


The Royal Wedding

by Fletcher



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Creeper Peter, Friendship, M/M, Romance, Scheming, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-22
Updated: 2013-09-16
Packaged: 2017-12-24 03:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/935036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fletcher/pseuds/Fletcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prince Stiles Stilinski leads a carefree life in the palace of Beacon Hills. Until Regent Hale decides Stiles would make an excellent consort for his nephew, Prince Derek.</p>
<p>An arranged marriage with a werewolf. Yeah, that is so not happening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Stiles, this is a government meeting, not your personal therapy session. Stop talking to me, I’m trying to paying attention here.”

“Why bother, it’s the exact same meeting every month. Nothing ever changes in Beacon Hills. Stiles on the other hand, has been through many changes since you saw him last time,” Stiles proclaimed, while lounging in his seat. He decided to get more comfortable and put his feet on the seat in front of him. Luckily, the guy who was supposed to sit there, never bothered to attend these meetings. Stiles desperately wished he could follow his example, but he was afraid Lydia wouldn’t hesitate to put forward a new execution bill if he did.

Lydia finally stopped typing and turned to Stiles. “We’ve spent the entire morning together, going through the new tax law. Unless something exciting happened to you in the restroom, you have no new information for me. And I have no interest in hearing your sordid stories.”

“Honestly, you cannot possibly think I was paying attention when you were going on about boring taxes. And when have you _not_ been interested in my ‘sordid stories’?” Stiles asked disbelievingly. “You’re part of my loyal audience, Lydia, I can’t lose you. You can’t leave me with Scott.”

“You are officially the worst crown prince this country has ever known.” She emphasized her point with a dramatic hair flip and focused back on her screen.

“I’m serious, Stiles,” she warned him, “you have to start using your head again because this whole ‘I’m too pretty to think’ act _is_ going to backfire on you.”

“Is there something I should know, my dear Lydia? Some court intrigue that I’m not aware of. Do I have an identical twin hiding in a dungeon getting ready to take my place?” Stiles joked.

“I wish,” Lydia responded, sounding quite disappointed about that. “Sadly, you are the only prince we’ve got. King John should have known better, every kingdom needs a spare if the heir doesn’t meet up to expectations.”

“Ouch, harsh much. No need to spare my princely feelings. I’ll shut up now and let you listen in peace.”

“That’s all I ever wanted,” Lydia said, already back to typing every word Prime Minster Deaton was saying.

*

Three hours later, the meeting finally wrapped up. While Lydia could probably make a PowerPoint presentation about it, Stiles had to admit that he couldn’t recall a single topic of discussion. But paying attention in these boring meetings, was exactly the reason Lydia was appointed as his personal advisor. A crown prince like Stiles had very different duties, like playing video games with Scott. They were totally helping him with his coordination and a king always needed to know where he was going.

Stiles found himself back in his own wing where Scott was already busy setting up their game. “Stiles, how was the meeting? Did you manage to stay awake?”

“Only because Lydia would have lynched me if I didn’t. I’m glad my butler is a lot nicer.”

“I am not your butler,” Scott huffed displeased. “I’m your bodyguard who makes sure that you don’t accidentally kill yourself when you leave these palace walls.”

“Same difference, maybe ‘guard dog’ should be your official title,” Stiles suggested.

“Shut up, and start playing so I can beat your ass.”

“In your dreams, Lassie.”

But before Stiles could get the opportunity to kick some serious ass, Allison walked in. “Prince Stiles, I’m really glad you’re here. I really need to discuss your schedule for tomorrow. I checked with your stylist and you’re going to need a new suit. The theme is ice and apparently nothing in your huge walk-in closet goes with that.”

“First of all, why do I need to go shopping?” Stiles asked, confused. “Annie knows my measurements, she takes them every month even though I’m no longer a growing boy. And why do I even need a new suit, there is nothing planned for the rest of the week.”

“Well, that was my second point. The Hale family are visiting us, they only informed your father this morning. The staff is very on edge, Annie just doesn’t want to take any risks.”

“Eww, a banquet, just what I needed. Any reason why they are so suddenly gracing us with their presence?”

“I honestly have no idea, you should talk to your father about that. All I know is that the Hale family and their entire entourage are visiting us without giving us any proper notice. Which means that we’re basically all screwed, because it’s impossible to organize a banquet that lives up to Regent Hale’s standards in one lousy day.”

“I’m sure you guys will pull it off, best staff ever right.” Stiles gave her an encouraging fist pump.

“Thank you, Prince Stiles, I really appreciate your encouraging words,” Allison responded, rather amused.

“How _we_ are going to survive this banquet, that is the real problem. The Hales are known buzz killers. Regent Hale has this permanently creepy smile etched on his face and Prince Derek doesn’t even have facial expressions or the ability to do more than grunt.”

Allison shrugged. “Maybe they’ve changed since the last time they visited, which according to your loyal stylist Annie, was more than eight years ago.”

“Well, if I’m going to spend tomorrow night conversing with Derek Hale, I am going to need some alcohol tonight. Scott, will you accompany me to The Spiral tonight.”

“It would be my pleasure, Prince Stiles,” Scott grinned.

“Allison, please write ‘get outrageously drunk’ in my calendar for this evening,” Stiles instructed.

“The King is not going to pleased about this,” she warned him.

Stiles shrugged. “Like me, he hates the Hales so he’ll understand.”

*

The next morning, Stiles had a huge hangover to which Lydia was only contributing by briefing him on the complete history of the Hale dynasty. “Seriously Lydia, my head is killing me and I’ve already heard this before.”

“That was years ago and you were just a kid then. Now that you’re legally an adult, you are expected to know everything about the guests you’re receiving.”

Stiles decided to interrupt her before he had to listen to another lecture. “Fine. Let me recap, so we can skip your presentation. Wolfsbane is the largest kingdom on this side of the world and it is ruled by the Hale family, who also happen to be werewolves, hence the very subtle name. All was fine and peachy, until there was a large fire in the palace that killed the King, Queen and several other family members. In any other kingdom their oldest daughter, Laura Hale, would have been the new Queen. But Wolfsbane is one of those really old-fashioned kingdoms so the first in line for the throne was their second child, Derek. Only Derek was barely twelve years old, so his uncle Peter became the Regent until Derek reached his 25th birthday, which is in a couple months since Annie has already informed me about her very ambitious plans for the coronation. Now, could you please tell me why is it so important for you that I know all of this by heart?”

Lydia sighed. “I just want you to be prepared. Don’t you find it highly suspicious that Regent Hale has decided to pay our little kingdom a visit?”

“They’re probably doing their regular tour, like I said Prince Derek’s coronation is coming up.”

“I did some research, we are in fact the only kingdom that they are visiting. This is not a coronation tour, this is about something completely different,” she said suspiciously.

“What are you saying, Lydia? Do you think they want to declare war? We are one of the tiniest kingdoms around and Wolfsbane is one of the most powerful, if not _the_ most powerful. What could we possibly have that they want? The only valuable thing this country has are our gold mines and there are plenty of gold mines in Wolfsbane.”

“This isn’t a social visit,” Lydia insisted. “They do want something from us and I need you to be as diplomatic as possible during this visit. Seriously, Stiles, I need you to be on your best behavior,” she cautioned him. “Regent Hale is dangerous and he has a reputation to not suffer fools.”

“I’m not a fool,” Stiles snapped.

“I know that, I’m just warning you to be very careful to watch your mouth when Regent Hale is nearby.”

Stiles could tell that Lydia really was worried about him and promised her, “I’ll be the perfect crown prince you’ve always wanted me to be.”

*

After his rather alarming chat with Lydia, Stiles didn’t think it was such a bad idea to visit his dad. Normally, he couldn’t just wander inside his dad’s office, he had to schedule an appointment just like everyone else. But just this once, he decided to try to squeeze his way in. If the Hales really had sinister motivations like Lydia suspected, Stiles would like to prepare his own funeral.

“Ms. Smith, I urgently need to talk the king. There has been a … situation that urgently needs to be addressed. I think you understand what I mean.”

Fortunately, his dad’s secretary was new to the job and still a bit overwhelmed by the whole royalty thing so she told him, “Of course, Prince Stilinski. You can go inside the King’s office, he’s not receiving any visitors at the moment.”

“Thank you, Ms. Smith. That is very kind of you.” Once he turned his back, Stiles couldn’t resist a small grin, his little plan had officially worked.

“Hi, dad, what’s up? Is it true that the Hales want to conquer our kingdom?”

His dad looked up from his desk to see Stiles smiling at him. “Son, what are you doing in here? Ms. Smith is not allowed to let anyone in, especially not you. I’m busy preparing the Hale visit. And who has been informing you about their war ambitions?”

“I just think as the crown prince, it’s important to be able to handle every possible situation and I didn’t want to exclude a violent one. So, what’s the deal, what reason did they give for their visit?”

“Honestly, Stiles, for all I know your conquering theory is correct. Peter Hale basically called me to inform me that we could be expecting him tomorrow, which is very improper. How am I supposed to strategize our discussions when I have no idea what he wants to discuss. And of course there was no way I could refuse him either. You don’t want to piss off Peter Hale. Please remember that in the coming weeks.”

“Weeks,” Stiles repeated. “Wait, how long are they staying?”

“He didn’t specify, which is another clue that he is expecting some lengthy negotiations, once I finally know what I’m supposed to negotiate about. Right now, he has all the control and you know how much I hate being powerless.”

“I know, trust me. We’ll just make the best of this situation, we will not be defeated by Peter Hale!” Stiles shouted like he was going into his battle. 

“I’m glad to see some fire in you, which reminds me that you are under no circumstance to mention..”

“Fire, flames, or anything that sounds hot. I am familiar with the family’s hatred for fire, no need to underestimate me constantly,” Stiles said, sounding a bit bitter.

“Stiles, I am not underestimating you. I know exactly how smart you are, it’s just that it’s my job as your father to protect you. As much as I care about my people, you always come first.”

“Aww, dad, no need to be gushy about it.”

*

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of people running through the palace with new drapes, fresh linen and cutlery. Miraculously, the palace staff was able to pull off their impossible task and the dining room was ready for the banquet. Stiles could even spot little snowflakes falling from the ceiling.

He was dressed in Annie’s chosen outfit and he actually didn’t really hate what he was wearing for once. Lydia was dressed to the nines, as was Allison, and Scott was wearing his usual James Bond wannabe-tuxedo, which made for some excellent mocking material. Stiles’ dad had even decided to wear one of his smaller crowns, probably in an effort to establish some authority.

Finally, the visitors were announced by Gino, one of his father’s assistants. “My King, may I present to you our guests, the honorable Regent Peter Hale and his Royal Highness Crown Prince Derek Hale. Your Grace.” Gino took one last bow and left.

King John stepped forward and welcomed Peter Hale with a royal handshake. “What an honor it is to receive your company, Regent Hale.”

“It’s an honor to be here, King John,” Peter replied, the permanent grin already plastered on his face.

King John addressed Derek next. “We are honored to be your host, Prince Derek.” Derek gave the King a handshake and a nod. Stiles presumed that was the only communication he would allow tonight.

Then it was time to eat their seven courses which was always Stiles’ favorite part of the evening. He was seated in front of Prince Derek, so the food was also a nice distraction. Not that it was exactly a hardship to look at Prince Derek’s face all night. He had a very nice face, if it wasn’t for his miserable personality, Stiles would be all over that. He even managed to look rugged in his very fancy suit. Meanwhile, his dad and Peter Hale were discussing some formalities. It seemed that Peter still hadn’t talked about the reason of his visit. His dad looked a bit stressed, but that could also be because he was eating red meat which he actually wasn’t allowed to. But no one dared to say no to the King.

The rest of the night dragged on until it was finally time to go back to their quarters. Before Stiles could finally escape, Peter grabbed his hand. “It was a true pleasure seeing you again, Prince Stiles. Looks like you’re all grown up, it’s been a long time since we last saw each other.”

“Thank you, Regent,” Stiles said, trying to sound as dignified as possible, “hopefully you will enjoy your visit to Beacon Hills.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem, Prince Stiles.”

Ok, now Stiles was officially creeped out because Regent Peter Hale just winked at him. He reminded him of one of those skeevy looking old guys in The Spiral who tried to pick up Stiles, when they were too drunk to realize that he was their crown prince.

Luckily, Derek just nodded at him and then followed his uncle. Weird family.

*

Stiles thought that he must still be recovering from his hangover, because he woke up with a massive headache. Once he managed to open his eyes carefully, he could tell the reason of his torment was actually Scott.

“Dude, you need to wake up, right now. Your father has asked you to come to his office asap,” Scott said anxiously.

“Ah, Peter Hale has finally given his demands, hopefully he hasn’t taken a hostage by now. I’ll get dressed, or do I have to go in my pajamas?” Stiles asked with a mocking tone.

“Get dressed, but hurry. I didn’t get the impression that you could take your time to get there.”

Stiles got dressed in record time, Scott insisted on accompanying him to his father’s office. “I do know the way to my father’s office, Scott, I don’t really need your guidance right now.”

“I just want to use the opportunity to meet the Regent’s security team, it’s good to fraternize with your enemy.”

“Whatever makes you feel better. Wish me luck,” Stiles demanded.

“Good luck, Stiles,” Scott said obediently, already busy checking out the weapons of the opposing security team.

Stiles needed to set only one foot in his father’s office to understand that something terrible just happened. His father looked at him in the same way he always did when he talked about his mother, sad.

“Father, I believe I was invited to this meeting.”

“Sit down, Stiles,” he said, pointing to the couch in front of Peter and Derek, “and please listen to the Regent’s proposition. If you could please repeat what you just told me, Regent.”

“Of course,” Peter said, with the same smile he always carried. “You are after all the subject of my proposition. As you are aware, my nephew’s coronation takes place not too long from now. It is of course essential to prepare every single detail, since we only want the best for Wolfsbane. That is the reason that my advisors and I have decided that it would be in the best interest of our kingdom that our new king has a partner to stand by his side, to help guide him during those first, difficult, transitional months. My late sister-in-law was a tremendous support for my brother when he first became King.”

At the mention of his parents, Derek’s face finally showed some emotion.

“Of course that leaves us with little time to plan an appropriate royal wedding. Luckily, we are confident that we’ve found the perfect partner for Derek, which is what brings us here. I have just asked your father for your hand in marriage, we want you to become Derek’s consort.”

While Stiles’ life was falling apart, Derek looked like Peter had just informed Stiles how comfortable the couch was, which pissed him off even more. Why didn’t Derek put a stop to this ridiculous arranged marriage, he didn’t want to spend dinner with Stiles, let alone his entire life.

Stiles had no choice but to answer Peter. “You understand that I will need to have a discussion about this with my father, Regent. This is quite a life changing proposition.”

“Of course, I understand the importance of family. Take all the time you need, Derek and I will go back to our lovely quarters. But please remember, we do need to decide this as quickly as possible. Planning a wedding is no easy feat, I’ve been told,” he said, like he had just told a hilarious joke.

Stiles waited until he was sure that Peter and Derek were at a safe distance, before he exploded. “What the fuck, dad! You can’t make me marry that guy, I refuse to spend the rest of my life with someone who can’t even be bothered to say more than three words to me. I am not doing this!”

His dad looked at him with pity in his eyes. “Trust me, if there was any way to stop this wedding, I would. Unfortunately, there isn’t. If you refuse to marry Derek Hale, then Peter Hale will stop at nothing to destroy us. And I don’t mean that he’ll show up with tanks and machine guns, all he needs to do is exploit our weaknesses. We’re a small country that needs to import food from the larger kingdoms. We depend on Wolfsbane. If Peter Hale cuts off our food supply, then our people will starve.”

“Then we import our food from one of the other kingdoms,” Stiles threw back at him.

“What other kingdoms? Hale has them all in his pocket, he controls them or have you forgotten the fact that they are werewolves.”

“Trust me, I haven’t forgotten. But you can’t force me to do this, I’ll run away if I have to.”

“Don’t be stupid, Stiles,” his dad replied disbelievingly. “You wouldn’t survive a week outside these palace walls, you are a true prince. And as the crown prince of this country, it is your duty to protect your people. An arranged marriage may sound horrifying but you have to remember that marrying for love is a privilege that most royals don’t have. A marriage is still the best way to form an alliance, that’s something that has never changed.”

“You married mom for love.”

“I was extremely fortunate. Listen, just think about this a while longer. Right now, you’re too angry to think straight. But I need you to really consider what exactly it is you’re doing. This is an extremely important decision and a king has to be able to make difficult decisions.”

“Yes, I know. Wasn’t it just yesterday that you told me that I was your first priority? It seems you’ve made your decision already. So I will fulfill my princely duties and think long and hard about mine. But I can promise you this: if you make me marry Derek, I will hate you forever,” Stiles said with as much venom as he can muster.

The only thing the King could say to that was, “I’d rather have a son who hates me, than no son at all.”

*

Stiles must have looked extremely upset when he stormed out of his father’s office because Scott took one look at him and immediately rallied the troops. When Stiles arrived in his living room, his friends were already present and they looked very concerned.

Allison was the one who to bite the bullet. “What happened?”

“My father just informed me that I’m supposed to marry Derek Hale and become his helpful little consort, that’s what happened,” Stiles nearly yelled.

“Shit,” Scott exclaimed. “This can’t be happening.”

“I knew it,” Lydia said. “But why you? There are at least five more eligible princes or princesses that Derek could marry. Beacon Hills is such a small kingdom, it can’t be that interesting to form an alliance with us.”

“Maybe they just really like Stiles,” Danny suggested. “However strange that may sound.”

Stiles snorted. “Promise me that you won’t become a detective, Danny. Because even a blind man can see that Derek Hale does not _like_ me, in fact his uncle seems more fond of me.” He kicked his chair. “I just don’t understand why Derek is not fighting this harder. Marrying me is not opportunistic in any way. Like Lydia said, we are a stupid little kingdom and Wolfsbane is immense. What the fuck do they want from us!”

“I think you’re focusing your anger on the wrong Hale,” Allison interjected. “Peter is the one who wants you to marry Derek. If you want to stop this wedding then you’ll have to convince him.”

“I can’t convince Peter. As much as I don’t like Derek, at least I’m not scared he’ll maul me. You can’t trust werewolves, remember,” Stiles said.

“Hey,” Scott replied offended. “I am a werewolf and I don’t go around mauling people. Besides, Peter may be the regent but Derek is the alpha.”

Lydia frowned. “I thought Laura Hale was the alpha.”

“No, it’s definitely Derek. Werewolf instincts don’t lie, even if you’re an omega like me. Peter is just a beta. If Laura Hale ever was the alpha, she’s not one any longer. You can’t just relinquish your alpha title, something must have happened to her.”

“Does that mean she is dead?” Allison asked. “That can’t be true, we should have heard about that. She is a princess! Fuck, what if Derek killed her to become the new alpha?”

“It’s traditional in the werewolf monarchies, that the reigning king or queen is also the alpha,” Scott explained. “It’s hard to keep your crown, if you’re not the top dog.”

“What do I do now?” Stiles asked no one in particular.

Lydia gave him the same pitying look his dad had given him earlier. “You have to accept, Stiles. It doesn’t really matter why they want you to marry Derek. Once you’re officially engaged to Derek, we can start working on getting you out of that engagement. It wouldn’t be the first time that a royal engagement is broken off.”

Allison smiled at him. “This palace loves you, we will not let you leave with a couple of crazy werewolves. Whatever we need to do, we’ll do it.”

Stiles looked at the only people in the world he could completely trust and finally felt like he could breathe again.

*

Stiles called one of his father’s lackeys to confirm that Stiles would accept Derek’s marriage proposal. He wasn’t planning on talking to his dad any time soon, he could be the one to sort out all of the technical details. Only a couple of hours later, Allison paid him a visit to inform him that there would be an engagement party the day after tomorrow. Stiles decided to do what he did best, get drunk at The Spiral **.**

He made out with a complete stranger and would have gone home with him if Scott wasn’t there to prevent it. If Stiles couldn’t sleep with some random dude, he went for the next best thing and slept with Danny again. They were never officially together, but everyone in the palace knew about Prince Stiles and the cook. His dad even gave him a lecture about not dating the help. Stiles only had to mention Melissa McCall and that conversation was quickly over. 

Sex was awesome, but sadly it didn’t have the ability to freeze time so quickly it was the evening of Stiles’ engagement party. He had ordered Annie to dress him in one of his old suits, no need to look dashing tonight. The party took place in the largest ballroom of the palace. It looked so perfect that Stiles wanted to start a small fire to scare off the Hales. But no matter how much he hated Derek, he couldn’t use his dead family against him. He knew all too well how much it hurt to lose a parent. He wanted to play dirty, not become a complete psychopath like the Regent.

Derek didn’t make it easy. Stiles might look like this was his funeral, but Derek looked like he died a few weeks ago. Not at all like the dangerous killer Allison suspected him to be. To Stiles, it became clear that creepy uncle Peter was pulling the strings. He remained determined to avoid all contact with him, that was why he spent most of the night hiding on the balcony.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t skip away when Peter did manage to find him, without his nephew. “Prince Stiles, I am ever so glad to be able to tell you in person how much it pleases me that we are going to be family. Trust me, this charming engagement party is only a small sample of the enormous party your wedding will be.”

“I can’t wait,” Stiles said coldly.

Peter seemed to ignore Stiles’ obvious lack of enthusiasm. “We are all very excited. In fact, why don’t we have a more private celebration later,” he suggested and then he actually pinched his butt.

Stiles showed more self-control than he ever had in his life and didn’t punch him in the face. “I don’t think my fiancé would appreciate me having dinner with strange old men.”

Peter smirked, “I’m sure he will make an exception for his favorite uncle.”

“I really won’t, uncle,” Derek suddenly announced out of nowhere. Stiles couldn’t even describe how he relieved he felt, this was getting a bit scary.

“If you could please excuse us, I would like to talk to _my_ fiancé. I am sure there are more than enough guests in the ballroom who want to greet the Regent,” Derek said with enough authority to it make clear that this was not a request.

“Of course, you are my crown prince after all,” Peter said, giving him a mocking bow before he left.

“Thank you,” Stiles mumbled.

“Stay away from my uncle, Prince Stiles. He’s very dangerous.”

“Yes, I gathered that already. He isn’t exactly very subtle. No worries, I have no plans to become buddies with the Hale family. In fact, I would prefer it if you would all leave me alone.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, in a few weeks you will be joining my entourage back to Wolfsbane,” Derek said.

“Prince Derek, I can tell you that I have no intention of going anywhere with you. I will stop this ridiculous marriage, at whatever cost.”

“Don’t bother, this marriage will happen, whether you cooperate or not. We may be royals, but we don’t live in a fairytale. It’s time for you to grow up, Prince Stiles,” Derek replied.

But Prince Stiles Stilinski didn’t give up that easily. It seemed like the most important fight of his life had just started and he planned on winning this one.


	2. Chapter 2

“I need to screw my way through the palace staff or at least make it seem like I did,” Stiles suggested gleefully. “I’ve read that werewolves have a thing for virgins.”

“Hmm, promiscuity is a good tactic when you're dealing with werewolves since loyalty is enormously important to them,” Lydia concurred. "But allowances are usually made for an arranged marriage so I don’t think it will be enough. Scott, what do you think?”

“I think Lydia has a good point, in general werewolves are very monogamous. But when it comes to an arranged marriage between royals...”

“Ok, then we’ll just have to find something else,” Allison continued. “This may be a very dangerous idea, but what if Stiles attacked Prince Derek. And I don’t mean just a little punch to the face, more like trying to cut his balls off.”

“As lovely as that sounds,” Stiles said, “we are trying to avoid a diplomatic disaster, not cause one. Although some deadly disease might be a good idea.”

“No,” Scott argued. “We can’t let our crown prince appear vulnerable. That might provoke an attack from other countries. Or even worse, a marriage proposal from some other opportunistic prince.”

“Ah Scott, always looking out for my safety,” Stiles said, giving him a fond look. “So basically we have no good ideas. I’m planning on treating Prince Derek like dirt, not that it means a lot since that’s how he always treats me. Except when he saved me from his creepy uncle of course. Regent Peter got a little handsy last night, he had way too much to drink.”

“He has a terrible reputation, you need to stay away from him,” Lydia warned him, she looked ready to kill.

“Trust me, I’m trying. Actually Derek gave me the exact same advice, that’s why I don’t think he has anything to do with his uncle's political schemes. Maybe I’m choosing the wrong tactic, maybe I should be nice to Derek. Very nice.”

“Sleeping with him isn’t going to help you,” Allison said. “He’s as trapped as you are until he turns 25. Besides, you wouldn’t succeed, he’s a notorious bachelor. There are some vague rumors about a girlfriend who died when she was very young, but other than that he has never been seen with anyone.”

“Just because he wasn’t seen, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have someone,” Stiles said victoriously. “He could have a kinky side, it’s very common with werewolves.”

“No, it isn’t,” Scott protested. “Ok, maybe a bit.”

"If Derek is sleeping with anyone, it has to be someone in his entourage. Who does Derek trust?” Stiles asked Lydia.

“As far as I can tell, no one. There are a couple of people in his entourage he seems a bit closer to, by that I mean he actually talks back to them. His personal security guard, Erica Reyes. The other one is his personal assistant, Isaac. Oh, and I caught him laughing at a joke Boyd made. That’s one of the ministers,” she clarified.

“Well, that’s at least three people he seems to give a fuck about, that could come in handy,” Stiles concluded. His brain was working overtime these days. “We do have the home advantage as well. Ok, let’s do it this way. Scott goes after Isaac, Allison goes after Erica and Lydia goes after Boyd. Try to infiltrate, become their friend and especially try to get as much as information as you can. I’ll talk to Danny later, he’s good at making friends.”

“Shouldn’t I go after Erica?” Scott asked.

“Nah, Stiles is right,” Lydia said. “I think Isaac is going to fall for your charms a lot faster than Erica ever would, she’s too smart. Right, this isn’t going to be easy and we all need to remember one thing: they are the enemy so don’t get too close.”

She seemed to direct that last message at Stiles. He didn’t understand why, he wasn't going to be Derek’s BFF any time soon. Although it couldn’t hurt to try to find out if there was something brewing beneath the surface. After all, it was only sensible to try to get to know your fiancé.

*

“Prince Derek, it pleases me that they put you in the blue room, it’s one of my personal favorites.”

“Prince Stiles, what brings you to my room?” Derek asked politely, although his face remained frozen.

“I thought having breakfast together would be an excellent opportunity to get to know each other. In fact, why not spend the whole day together?”

“You seemed much less enthusiastic about my company yesterday,” Derek remarked.

“That’s one of the advantages of youth, you’re still allowed to change your mind when you feel like it. Marriage is a serious commitment after all, we should start preparing ourselves.”

“I find it very hard to believe that you’ve suddenly changed your mind about our engagement, but I don’t care if you have your breakfast here, I’m planning on reading my paper anyway.”

“Of course,” Stiles said agreeably, determined to carry this through. “It’s important to catch up on the current news, I understand. Maybe you could tell me what’s currently happening in Wolfsbane, like for instance: how is your sister doing?”

Derek looked strangely stricken. “Princess Laura is doing great, she is currently residing in Paris.”

Stiles didn’t buy that for a second but answered, “Oh, how lovely, brushing up on her French. I think we could all benefit from learning about other cultures. So tell me, what are werewolves like in bed? Should I worry?”

Stiles was convinced Derek was going to roll his eyes, but he managed to control his face. Too bad. “You have nothing to worry about, Prince Stiles, I can assure you that werewolf marriages are quite comparable to other marriages. Maybe you should talk to your friend Scott about this,” he suggested.

“You have to understand that I can’t really talk to Scott about this. He doesn’t like hearing about my sexual exploits.”

“Understandable,” Derek muttered.

Stiles shifted a bit closer to Derek. “I hope that won’t be a problem between us. I’d like to keep my husband up to date about who I sleep with, it’s just a matter of propriety, isn’t it?”

Derek finally put his paper away. “I can assure you that I don’t need to hear anything about your ‘sexual exploits’.”

“Hmm, then I guess I’ll have to put in the paper to get your attention.”

“Trust me, you don’t want my attention. And to answer your not very subtle question: I don’t expect monogamy in our very arranged marriage.”

Stiles smiled viciously. “Oh, I thought I might have been too subtle, but you seem to have keen observation skills. You’ll go far in life with that skill.”

“You need to stop playing games, Prince Stiles, this will not end well for you.”

“Ah, but I love playing games. One thing is for sure, no one has ever won a war by reading a newspaper. It was lovely catching up with you, Prince Derek. I will see you at lunch,” Stiles said and bowed.

Derek sighed heavily. “I wish you didn’t bother, I prefer eating alone.”

“Well that just won’t work anymore,” Stiles informed him smugly. “You’re the one who is determined to be married. I think it’s time that I show you the many benefits of not being on your own any longer.”

*

So far it seemed Stiles was pushing all the right buttons, attacking Prince Derek’s solitude seemed to hurt him. Stiles secretly wondered when he exactly became such a loner, he remembered him being a lot more open as a kid. Not that he ever was the sunshine in the house. Either way, Stiles learned something important: no matter how hard he pushed, Derek wasn’t going to hurt him. Which was vital information if they were going to continue their plans.

After having breakfast and lunch together, they were currently having dinner. Derek ignored him as much as possible, of course that didn’t stop Stiles from babbling away. He was actually starting to have fun, tormenting Derek was a much more pleasant activity than he had originally assumed. Until his one-sided conversation was interrupted by his assistant Isaac.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, sire,” Isaac said quietly. He didn’t seem to have much volume. “We just need to go over your schedule for tomorrow.”

“Don’t mind me. In fact, it might be interesting to see what my schedule will look like in the future. Don’t you think so, Isaac?” he asked, he couldn’t help flirting a little. Isaac looked very nice when he blushed.

“Of course not, Prince Stiles,” he said, he actually looked a lot less nervous.

“Could you start?” Derek asked impatiently, seemingly not impressed with Stiles’ flirting skills.

“Of course, Prince Derek. Well actually, I can be rather short about this. Tomorrow we have a planned visit to the Werewolf Museum.”

“Aww, that does seem like a good idea,” Stiles replied enthusiastically. “The history of werewolves isn’t always properly explored in our country. Werewolves aren’t as common as they are in Wolfsbane. This will be a very informative experience for us both.”

Derek nearly choked on his piece of meat. “Us? Are you planning on joining us, Prince Stiles?”

“Of course I am,” he said innocently. “It’s only natural for me to want learn more about my fiancé’s culture. The only werewolf I really know is Scott and he’s pretty atypical.”

Derek addressed Isaac, “You are free to leave.”

Isaac nodded gratefully. Stiles had honestly forgotten he was even there.

Derek turned his attention back to Stiles. “What is so atypical about Scott that you have a sudden urge to visit a museum dedicated to werewolves?”

“Well for instance, Scott has never been a part of a pack which seems pretty atypical for a werewolf,” he explained. “Also, he was turned rather late, only a few years ago. You’ve been a werewolf your entire life, surely you must have more knowledge about them.”

It seemed for once Derek was giving him the benefit of the doubt. “I do understand your curiosity about werewolves when you’re moving to a country filled with them. But I can assure you that we’re all very civilized.”

“Except for your uncle,” Stiles couldn’t help but mention.

“Yes, except for my uncle,” Derek conceded. “But he is an exception, hopefully you won’t be influenced too much by the impression he made.”

“I’ll do my best,” Stiles promised, a promise he had no intention of keeping. “You do seem very different, are you sure you’re related?”

“I’ve done the tests,” Derek blurted out.

Stiles couldn’t suppress a small smile, so there was a sense of humour buried in there. “I’m sure you have. I have to go now, we’ll see each other tomorrow.”

“Yes, until tomorrow,” Derek said, he sounded much less frustrated than he did earlier. Stiles’ magic was working already.

*

“Good morning,” Scott greeted Stiles. “How did your day with Prince Derek go? Not too boring?”

“I did most of the talking,” Stiles admitted. “But that’s business as usual for me. I did learn several things about my beloved fiancé. Most importantly, he barks more than he bites. Also, he really hates his uncle and he’s starting to like me, against his better judgment.”

“I find it hard to believe that Prince Derek has stopped hating you after just one day,” Scott scoffed.

“I didn’t say I was planning on painting his claws, just that he seems to find me tolerable enough to spend an entire day with. We’re visiting the Werewolf Museum today,” Stiles informed him.

“Does Allison know about this? You can’t just schedule your own activities.”

“Scott, you do remember that our goal is to get me out of this ridiculous marriage. Everything I do, is to help achieve that goal, I think Allison will understand.”

“You’re probably right,” Scott said. “But that does mean I have to organize security for you today, which was _not_ a part of my plan.”

“I’m sorry,” Stiles apologized, “it was a bit impulsive of me. But I am honestly a bit curious about this whole werewolf thing, it’s weird how Derek suddenly became the alpha. I need to know why.”

“Yeah, I get it. You just need to be very careful about this. They’re Hales, they’re dangerous by definition. No matter how little bite Derek shows.”

Stiles nodded in agreement. “You’re right, but I do think my plan is working. Especially, if I do end up marrying him, I would like to have a husband who cares if I live or die.”

“That won’t happen,” Scott vowed, “the marriage part, I mean. I am not losing you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take you with me to Wolfsbane. I couldn’t survive without you,” he joked.

“You really couldn’t,” Scott said, sounding a bit too worried about that fact.

Surprisingly, Allison was upset about the fact that Stiles was joining Derek on his trip to the museum. “This was not part of my plans, Prince Stiles,” she said impatiently. “We were supposed to visit this new factory that just opened. Do you really need to spend day and night with Prince Derek?”

“Oh, I’m definitely not spending my nights with him, but I do need to spend more time by his side. I’m a spy, remember? I need him to spill about his evil uncle and his motivations for our engagement. Do you understand that, Allison?”

“Yes,” she bristled. “It’s fine, I’ll just reschedule. But I’m still not happy about all of this.”

“I know how much you love to plan things. So what can you tell me about Erica Reyes, any progress?”

“Not really, but we did talk for a couple of minutes. She is going to be the hardest one to crack, not that it matters, I’m an Argent after all,” she said confidently.

That was something Stiles wouldn’t forget easily. “Just don’t play up the whole Argent thing, alright? I don’t want Erica to know that she’s dealing with a trained assassin. I still count my lucky stars every day that you’re not my enemy.”

“I would never hurt one of my best friends,” she assured him. Then she added, “Before we get too mushy and start exchanging friendship bracelets, I did discover one thing about Erica. She’s a werewolf.”

Stiles didn’t really find that very shocking. “That’s not really surprising, is it? She does come from Wolfsbane, land of wolves.”

Allison looked unconvinced, something was clearly bugging her. “That’s the thing, I don’t think she is. I made a stupid joke about one of Wolfsbane’s old traditions and she looked like she didn’t have a clue what I was talking about.”

“Hmm, interesting, so we’re dealing with a potential stray. Why would anyone run towards Wolfsbane, it’s not exactly an inviting country with all those scary werewolves.”

“I have no idea, but I’ll find out,” she said, sounding very determined.

Stiles really was very lucky that she was his friend.

*

After his enlightening conversation with Allison, Stiles ventured into the kitchen, just before he started preparing himself for his trip to the museum. He located his target pretty quickly which wasn’t particularly impressive when he always stood in the exact same spot.

“Hello Danny, glad to see you’re already hard at work making my dinner.”

“Yes Stiles, you’re the only person in this palace worth cooking for. If it were up to me, I’d let the rest starve.”

“You’re such a romantic,” Stiles teased, “but I didn’t come here for foreplay, sadly. I need you to ‘connect’ with members of Derek’s entourage.”

“This is starting to sound like you’re my pimp,” he said, sounding undeservedly skeptical.

“Danny, please, I didn’t ask you to sleep with them, you’re the one with the dirty mind. But you’re also charming and that’s exactly what I need, a very nice boy.”

Danny looked strangely affronted. “Why does everyone keep saying how nice I am? You of all people should know better, was I really that nice when I fucked you on this stove?”

Stiles grinned. “Honestly, yes, I knew you were too nice to really damage the stove. Whatever, this is all a part of my plan to get rid of the Hale family. You’re in right?”

“Of course I’m in. I’ll do whatever I can to help you. And if there’s anything else you need… we do serve food to the Hale family.”

“I believe poison is one of our contingency plans. Right now we’re focusing more on the traditional act of spying on them.”

“There is this girl from Derek’s entourage who helps prepare his food. Werewolves seem to have a specific diet. I’ll try to talk to her later, she probably knows more about the family’s habits, after all you can learn a lot from a person by what they eat.”

“I knew I could count on you,” Stiles said. “Now wish me luck, because I’m spending my day in Prince Derek’s company.”

“If only the inside matched the outside,” Danny sighed.

“It really couldn’t,” Stiles said, “the world is much too cruel for that.”

*

Visiting the museum turned out to be rather interesting, it was worth Scott and Allison’s scorn. Although Stiles had no doubt that the museums in Wolfsbane were much larger than the one in Beacon Hills. But since only 5% of the population was a werewolf in Beacon Hills, it was clearly not deemed a priority.

So it wasn’t really the museum itself that was interesting but Derek’s reactions to it. He seemed so peaceful, more comfortable than Stiles had seen him since he arrived. Stiles was starting to wonder why he even agreed to marry someone who wasn’t a werewolf and had no plans of ever becoming one. But that was the big question: why did Derek agree to this engagement?

“Prince Stiles, we need to start moving now,” Scott said gently.

“Of course,” Stiles answered, distracted since he was watching Derek chatting with the museum proprietor. He seemed really engaged in their conversation, Stiles wondered what the old guy’s secret was.

“Scott, what do you think of my potential husband now that you’ve had the opportunity to observe him a bit more?”

“He seems pretty normal, disturbingly normal actually. Maybe he was just feeling a bit homesick and that’s why he was being so distant,” he suggested hopefully.

“No, I don’t think that’s it. Does changing into a werewolf really hurt?” he asked curiously.

“Fuck yes, so don’t even think about it.”

Stiles laughed in disbelief. “Scott, I have no intention of becoming a werewolf. No offense, dude, but you have a lot of hair in a lot of places.”

“How would you know, you haven’t seen me naked lately.”

“Because you’ve finally managed to control your werewolf powers so that you’re not suddenly standing naked in my bedroom. Remember that time my dad was there with us, now that’s a lovely memory.” Stiles couldn’t help giggling a bit, Scott’s face had been amazing.

“Speaking of your dad, when was the last time the two of you actually had a conversation? Are you planning on ignoring him until this is all over?”

“Oh, I’m planning on ignoring him a lot longer than that. He had the choice between his kingdom and his son, he chose his kingdom. I think that makes things pretty clear,” he said spitefully.

“He didn’t really have a choice,” Scott pleaded. “Regent Hale would have destroyed us, he couldn’t do that to his own people.”

“He could have abdicated, but that thought didn’t seem to cross his mind. My whole life, he always said I was the most important thing in his life. But when the time came to prove it, he didn’t.”

“Stiles, abdicating might have meant that Peter tried to take us over. He made the best political decision he could.”

“You’re defending your king very well, but I haven’t seen you make a single argument for my dad.”

Scott was quiet, that was exactly what Stiles expected. “I want to go home now, could you ask Prince Derek if he is planning on ever leaving this place again.”

“Sure,” Scott said, not looking very pleased with how this conversation turned out.

Neither was Stiles, he tried to forget his father’s existence for the moment, he had more urgent troubles to deal with. The biggest one was approaching him right now.

“Prince Stiles, your bodyguard just informed me that you want to go back home. Would you mind if I stayed a bit longer?” Derek asked, polite as ever.

Sometimes Stiles really hated the fact that since he was a prince, he was expected to be so freaking polite all the time. “Of course not, maybe you should set up a tent, you seem to like it here.”

Prince Derek looked slightly taken aback by his response. “I’m sorry, did I offend you in some way?”

Great, now he even managed to make Stiles feel guilty. For a wolf, he definitely resembled a puppy a lot right now. “I’m sorry, my mood has nothing to do with you. I just had a slight disagreement with Scott about my security arrangement. He tends to go overboard.”

“You seem to be very close with him, is he your boyfriend?”

That was the best joke he heard all day. “Definitely not, more like my brother. Believe me, there is nothing ‘romantic’ going on between us.”

“So it’s only the cook then?” Derek asked, he didn’t sound so kind anymore.

“Well, he is one of the lucky ones,” Stiles retorted sarcastically. “But I’ve known Scott my entire life. I think it’s important to have a loyal staff, I can trust these people with my life. Can you say the same?”

“I believe I can,” Derek said, like he just discovered something himself. “But your friends are older than you, right?”

“I can hardly have a bunch of teenagers running after me. I’m quite valuable property.”

“You’re not anyone’s property,” Derek said decisively.

“Aren’t I?” Stiles asked, pretending to be shocked. “That must be why I am marrying the love of my life.” Then he really did go home.

*

“Could you stop looking so depressed, you’re starting to freak me out.” Lydia was sitting on Stiles’ bed where he was planning on spending the rest of his life.

“How can I not be depressed? I hate my dad, my fiancé and now I’m even fighting with Scott.”

“You’re not fighting with Scott,” she said impatiently. “He just doesn’t want you to ignore the King any longer. Don’t you get that, after everything that happened with his dad.”

“Yeah, I get it, it just wasn’t the right time to remind me about it. I’ll fix it.”

“Good boy,” Lydia said. “Now get out of your bed and get dressed, it’s noon already and we still need to strategize.”

The usual gang was already sitting in his living room, including a very depressed looking Scott.

“Could you please stop looking so sad, I’m sorry, alright?”

“I’m sorry too,” Scott said quickly. “I shouldn’t have you lectured you, it’s none of my business when you deal with your dad.”

“Alright, are the two of you friends again because we have more important problems,” Lydia asked.

“Totally,” Stiles and Scott answered at the same time.

“That’s good news and very emotional to watch by the way,” Danny said. “Unfortunately, I have some bad news. According to the girl who is now working in my kitchen, they are not planning on leaving anytime soon. Don’t ask me why.”

“That’s actually good news,” Allison said, “they are not planning on just whisking Stiles away from here. It’s an old-fashioned tradition that the engaged couple gets to know each other before one has to leave his own country.”

Stiles didn’t see that as an advantage. “That could be a month I have to avoid Peter Hale. I’m already scared to leave my room, not to mention that this is killing my sex life.”

“Aww, are you feeling lonely?” Danny teased. “I’ll stay here tonight, does that help?”

“It does actually,” Stiles grinned.

“Eww, do you really have to plan your hookup right in front of us,” Scott asked, looking very freaked out.

“Sorry dude,” Stiles apologized, although he wasn’t feeling very sorry. “Let us listen to Lydia, she does like to tell us what to do.”

Lydia sighed. “I’d better get a huge raise for this. All right kids, Minister Boyd resembles his boss a lot, doesn’t talk much, at least not to me. The only thing I got out of him was that everyone in Wolfsbane was really surprised Prince Derek wanted to get married so soon. They expected him to wait for at least another year, get established first as the new king. Oh, and nothing about Laura Hale.”

“Erica doesn’t seem to know anything about Princess Laura either,” Allison chimed in. “Actually, she’s only been with Derek for a couple of months so she probably doesn’t know him very well.”

“Neither does Isaac,” Scott said. “But I don’t think he was completely honest with me about that. Just a feeling I have.”

“Follow that feeling,” Stiles advised him. “Laura Hale might be the solution to all of our problems. If we discover she was killed by another Hale… Well then that is ground to break off this engagement, isn’t it?”

They all nodded, even though no one was really excited about confirming her death. Especially not Stiles, no one deserved to have Peter Hale as their only remaining family member.

*

With another meeting finished, Stiles thought it was time to concentrate on something more fun: getting naked with Danny. And he looked very good naked, Stiles wondered why he even bothered to wear clothes in the first place. Before he could get a chance to ask him, his phone rang.

Stiles picked up slightly irritated, they were just getting to the good stuff. “What?”

“I hope I’m not intruding, Prince Stiles.” It was Derek of course, initiating contact for the first time, interesting.

“Not really,” Stiles clarified. “I was expecting someone else entirely, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not a problem, I didn’t think you were really expecting my call. I was wondering if you wanted to join me for dinner, I need to discuss something with you.”

Stiles was torn. On the one hand he was very curious, but he was also really horny. He gave naked Danny one last look and replied, “Of course, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

*

Stiles was feeling slightly apprehensive about this visit, he really hoped this wasn’t a trap.

Isaac didn’t look very devious when he greeted him, very nice as usual. Stiles sat down to eat the dinner made by the naked guy he just left behind. Life really was cruel.

Derek put down whatever it was he was reading and addressed him. “I really do hope this isn’t an inconvenience, but like I said earlier, I really needed to discuss something with you. Namely the fact that it seems your staff is very interested in mine.”

Fuck. “What is that supposed to mean? Are they not allowed to talk to them or something, this is not a convent, no one here took a vow of silence.”

“I don’t know why the papers seem to describe you as a lazy prince, you seem very busy to me. But please call off your minions because whatever it is you’re planning, it’s no use. You are not getting out of this engagement.”

Stiles laughed very hard. “Planning something? Do I look like some evil mastermind to you? Of course I’m not really that innocent, before you so rudely interrupted me, I was planning on screwing my personal chef. Or rather being screwed by him because he really is good at that. Tell me, when was the last time you slept with someone?”

“If you’re trying to shock me, it’s not going to work,” Derek snapped. “Just promise me that you will stop these stupid plans.”

“And I am telling you that I’m not planning on doing anything. Although I’m glad to hear that you’re not a virgin, I like my men to have a little experience. You know what, maybe I’m talking to the wrong Hale. I’m sure your uncle knows what he’s doing.”

“Stay the fuck away from him!” Derek shouted.

For a split second, Stiles was afraid he was going to transform into a wolf right there.

“Wow, you really do hate him. But he’s not the one forcing me to marry him,” he spitted out viciously and planned on storming out.

Derek couldn’t sit down any longer, he got up and took one of Stiles’ wrists in his very large hands to stop him. “You have no idea why I’m doing this, do you think I enjoy the fact that I’m chaining myself to someone like you for the rest of my life. Just listen to me for once, stop fighting this, you’re only making it worse. For yourself and for your father.”

“Someone like me?” Stiles repeated. “What’s that supposed to mean? Am I too slutty for you, too stupid, do I have too much dick? What is it that you find so reprehensible about me?”

Derek didn’t answer his question. “Promise me, now. Please.”

Stiles responded by spitting in his eye, Derek finally let him go.

“I don’t think I’m having any more private dinners with you, Prince Derek, if this is how you treat your guests. If you’ll excuse me, I really need to get laid now. And after that I might really start planning something to get out of this fucking marriage because I am not going anywhere with you.”

Right when Stiles was planning on walking out, Isaac came back in.

“Is everything alright, Prince Derek?”

“Everything is just peachy,” Stiles answered nonchalantly. “Although I’m afraid it won’t be that way for much longer. Good luck with your prince,” he whispered in his ear.

Sadly, Danny wasn’t in his room anymore so Stiles thought that maybe he should just go to one of his clubs. But he quickly put that thought out of his mind, the last thing he needed was more strangers in his life. Eventually, he did call Danny, right after he finally stopped shaking.

He was completely wrong about Derek, he was his enemy and he needed to defeat him. No matter what it took.

*


	3. Chapter 3

Not even Danny could cheer him up, he was just so nice that Stiles couldn’t yell at him. And that’s what he needed to do right now, yell at someone, preferably Derek. But that wouldn’t be very sensible so he just shut up and listened to Danny talking about opening his own restaurant. It was something that he had been talking about for a while now, but his plans seemed to get more concrete. Selfishly, Stiles didn’t really encourage him. He already had so few friends, he didn’t want to lose one. Not that it really mattered because if he moved to Wolfsbane, he would probably never see Danny again.

“Stiles, have you even heard a word of what I just said?” Danny asked, he looked rather worried.

“Yeah, of course, your restaurant. It all sounds very exciting, Danny.”

“I’m sorry, I know you’ve got more important things on your mind than my non-existent restaurant. You know you can talk to me right? Not that I didn’t enjoy the whole not-talking part we just spend an hour doing, but in the end we’re friends and you can count on me.”

“Of course I know that. Trust me, if it wasn’t for Scott, Allison, Lydia and you, I would have given up a long time ago.”

“It’s not just us,” Danny said, “the whole palace is behind you. You say what we need to do and we’ll do it. Everything for our crown prince, remember?”

Stiles huffed. “Does anyone know how to kill a werewolf? Because that’s what I’m currently thinking about.”

“Stiles, you know you can’t do that,” he said gently, “we’re a small country, they could literally burn us to the ground.”

“You’re right,” Stiles smiled, “it’s time for me to deal with the real problem, Peter Hale.”

*

Stiles wasn’t stupid enough to confront Peter Hale on his own, he brought Scott with him. Usually Scott only accompanied him outside the palace, but Stiles had asked him to not leave him alone from now on. Scott immediately agreed which Stiles didn’t really take as good news. Apparently Scott didn’t consider the palace to be a safe place anymore.

Scott was the one to knock on the Regent’s door, his assistant was clearly not expecting anyone. She threw Scott an annoyed glare but her face brightened when she spotted Stiles.

“Prince Stiles, do come in. The Regent is just going through some papers, he can talk to you in a few moments.”

“Don’t be silly, Georgina,” Peter Hale said, creepy smile present once again. “I always have time for Prince Stiles. Do sit down, boy. Georgina, you can leave and so can your bodyguard. You’re not in any danger here.”

“Scott stays here,” Stiles said decisively. “Just a precaution, I am the crown prince after all.”

“I understand,” Peter said, although his face spelled out that he didn’t agree at all. “So what brings you here, excited to plan the wedding? I understand if you want to be involved, it would actually be a relief. I don’t know if I’m very good at planning weddings, I’ve always been a bachelor,” he confided in Stiles, like it was a big secret.

“I’m here to bargain for something,” Stiles announced, “my freedom.”

Peter grinned and poured himself some whiskey. “Do either of you want something too? I always forget the drinking age in some of the smaller countries, it’s eighteen right?”

“It is,” Stiles confirmed, “but we’re not interested in drinking anything you offer. What I want to know is what you want from me and my father. Why on earth would you want your nephew to marry someone from such an insignificant kingdom. I’m sure Prince Jackson would be very excited to become his consort.”

“I’m not interested in Prince Jackson,” Peter scoffed. “I have a very specific reason for choosing you, unfortunately I can’t share it with you at the moment. But believe me, I’m not the kind of man who bargains.”

“What do you want from me?” Stiles insisted. “Because whatever it is, you’re not getting it.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, I usually get what I want. Sure you don’t want that drink?”

“No, we’re leaving, goodbye Regent Hale.”

“Until later, Prince Stiles. It’s always a pleasure to see you.” Then he got uncomfortably close to him and whispered in his ear, “You’re so pretty when you’re mad.”

Stiles promptly lost all color in his face, and walked out before he said anything too incriminating. He was shaking again.

“What did he say to you?” Scott demanded to know, once they were out of earshot. “Tell me, Stiles.”

“He wants to have sex with me, alright. That’s what going on here. The last time he came on to me, he was really drunk, so I didn’t think too much of it but now… Bad reputation, my ass.”

“Stiles, he’s not going to hurt you,” Scott said confidently, he leaned in for a hug. Stiles nodded and Scott gave him one of his typical bear hugs, which usually made him laugh but this was really not a laughing matter.

“We’ve been going about this the wrong way,” Stiles muttered. “We’re playing against monsters, it’s time we start thinking like one too.”

*

Stiles was scared to tell Lydia and Allison about his confrontation with Peter Hale so Scott was the one who did the honors.

“I am going to cut off his balls,” Allison said calmly after hearing Scott’s story.

“Get in line,” Lydia replied.

“I love you both very much, but you know we can’t do that,” Stiles said, trying to reason with them. “And technically he didn’t really do anything, it’s not illegal to call someone pretty. It’s just the way he said it, coupled with the ass pinching. I guess I know for sure that he likes to keep his family close.”

“We need to tell your dad,” Allison decided, “he needs to help you with this.”

“That man can’t do anything for me right now,” Stiles said coldly. “He needs to protect his country, I need to protect myself. That’s why I’m going to see Derek.”

“That’s a horrible idea,” Lydia shouted. “Are you insane? You need to stay away from this family!”

“I can’t, he was the one warning me to stop fighting this marriage and to avoid his uncle, I need to know why. I need to know what’s going to happen if I don’t go through with this.”

“This time we’re all coming with you,” Allison said. She sounded very determined. “And I’m bringing my bow. For his sake, I hope this one keeps it in his pants. It’s been a while since I shot someone.”

*

Stiles had a very bad feeling about this, but there was no stopping his friends or rather protectors. This time, Isaac looked rather frightened when he laid eyes on him.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you, Isaac, but could I speak to Prince Derek? It’s rather urgent.”

“All of you?” Isaac asked meekly.

“Yes, all of us,” Stiles confirmed, not taking no for an answer.

Derek’s face was finally showing some expressions, the current one was surprise. “Prince Stiles, you are the last person I expected to see here. Although you came with your entourage this time.”

“They’re here to protect me against potential threats, after our last dinner I thought I’d take my precautions.”

“Understandable,” Derek said quietly. “I can’t apologize enough for my behavior, touching you was inexcusable. I do hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

“I’ll certainly consider it. But after meeting your uncle, I’ve already discovered that you’re not the worst one in the family.”

Derek groaned. “After I specifically asked you not to meet him, you go ahead and do it anyway.”

“Careful now, there is no need to get that close,” Allison warned him.

Derek apparently realized it was wise to listen to her and took a few steps back. “I really hoped you finally believed me, but it seems you will never trust me.”

“Why would I trust you?” Stiles scoffed. “What have you ever done to prove that you’re so trustworthy in the first place. If you really want me to trust you, tell me why it’s so important for me to go through with this wedding. Then maybe we can form an alliance.”

“An alliance?” Derek repeated curiously. “We’re already going to be married, why would I need an alliance?”

“Because,” Stiles said very slowly, “I could be a very good consort or I could be a very bad one. That’s your choice. Your country expects you to choose someone who can support you in your very early reign, but trust me, I could single-handedly ruin it.”

Derek seemed to be contemplating what he said and reached a decision. “I never wanted us to be enemies. But it’s for your own safety that I can’t tell you everything just yet, we need to be in Wolfsbane first. Everything will become clear once we arrive there.”

“I’ve already informed you that I’m not going there, a land filled with werewolves, I can’t really imagine anything worse.”

“I can,” Derek said sincerely. “I promise you and your friends, that if you listen to what I have say, you won’t get hurt. I can protect you there.”

“Even if we do believe that, we can’t wait that long,” Lydia spoke up. “What kind of guarantees can you really give Prince Stiles? Because with your family, we are going to need those.”

“My sister isn’t dead,” Derek told Stiles. “Telling you this means you have more information about her than Peter does. I really hope I can trust you.”

“You can,” Stiles assured him, “I’ll prove it to you.”

*

Stiles didn’t really have a choice, he had to trust Derek.  That was the one thing they all agreed about.

“Ok, we’re back on Derek’s side,” Lydia recapped. “Which doesn’t mean we trust him completely, he’s just the lesser of two evils right now.”

“One day I will live a Hale-free life again,” Stiles said wistfully. “Although I’m glad that Laura Hale is still alive, even if I don’t really get how Derek can be the alpha. Any explanations, Scott?”

“I have like no idea at all,” he answered. “They must have found a loophole somehow.”

“Yes, they seem to be a very secretive family,” Stiles said. “But if I have to bet my life on one of them, I’m choosing Derek.”

*

“Danny, are you finally missing that shirt?”

“I’m not Danny,” Derek informed him.

“Oh, it’s you again. I’m surprised Scott let you in.”

“I’m a little surprised myself, but he seems to have some faith in me.”

“Yes, it seems he does. Don’t worry, we’ve already decided that we’re on your side for now.”

“I’m always worried,” Derek remarked. “But it’s good to know that we can be ‘allies’, I meant what I said, I don’t want us to be enemies. This world is hard enough as it is.”

“Just out of curiosity, if I do marry you, what does that mean for my country?” Stiles asked him.

“It would make Beacon Hills a province of Wolfsbane,” Derek answered. “And I would like you to govern it.”

“Wolfsbane is a long way from here, does that mean I get to stay here?”

“Not in the first few years of our marriage, we have to show an united front at first. But I’m not planning on keeping you as my prisoner. If you want to spend most of your time back home, I don’t have a problem with that.”

Stiles was inwardly cheering, but tried to keep his cool. “Maybe we can come to an agreement after all, Prince Derek.”

“I really hope so,” he said sincerely. “I don’t want to damage our tentative peace, but have you talked to your father recently?”

“I haven’t and I wasn’t planning on talking to him either. Would you like the father who sent you off to a loveless, arranged marriage?”

“You’re asking the wrong person,” Derek answered.

Fuck, that was enormously stupid. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to … “

Derek cut him off. “It’s fine. I know what you meant. But you really need to talk to him, not to stop this marriage but to help you get through with it.”

“He already gave you his permission.”

“I’m not talking about his permission, I’m talking about his support. You can’t do everything on your own or with the help of your friends, scary as they may be.”

“You think so too?” Stiles grinned.

“It gets a bit chilly every time Allison looks at me,” Derek admitted.

“Yeah, she does have that effect on people, she can’t help it,” he shrugged. “She’s an Argent, it’s in her blood.”

“Aren’t the Argents all trained assassins? Why is she working as your assistant?”

He didn’t trust Derek enough to tell him the truth so he avoided the question by answering, “That’s a long story, just like one day you’ll have to explain me how you managed to find Isaac and Erica. But first, I am going to visit my dad since everyone keeps hassling me about it.”

“You see, I knew you’d make a wise consort.”

“Don’t get too cocky, Hale. There’s no ring on my finger yet or do werewolves don’t bother wearing rings, with the claws and all?”

Derek rolled his eyes, Stiles considered that very amusing. He was impressed Derek managed to show so many facial expressions lately.

*

Stiles gathered up all his courage before he went to his father’s office, this time he didn’t need an excuse to get inside.

“Stiles, I’m so glad to see you,” his father said. He looked like he had aged ten years since the last time Stiles saw him.

“It seems like we have things to discuss, but this doesn’t mean we’re one big, happy family again. I’m never going to forgive you for this.”

“Stiles, I had no..”

“Dad, I don’t need to hear your reasoning, I know exactly why you caved in. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with it. Now tell me what is expected from me as Prince Derek’s fiancé.”

His father stared at him a bit longer, but seemed to deem the situation hopeless. “At the moment, I’m still in negotiations with Regent Hale, he has made several promises already. Wolfsbane really has a lot of connections.”

“How exciting,” Stiles replied sarcastically.

The King didn’t pay attention to his last remark. “I’ll give you all the paperwork, go through it with Lydia. Pay very good attention, you are going to need this knowledge once you arrive in Wolfsbane.”

Stiles accepted the papers and quickly looked through them. “I’m starting to understand the benefits of an arranged marriage, but I don’t think I’ll need Lydia to dissect these.”

“Son, this is not the time to be stubborn, there is a reason I appointed Lydia as your advisor. She’s the most intelligent person in my staff.”

Stiles let out a bitter laugh. “You didn’t appoint Lydia, she chose me because she’s my friend. She loves me, that is why she is determined to get me out of this engagement, just like the rest of my family. Except for you of course.”

His dad was starting to lose his temper. “I’ve had enough of this, you don’t even realize how privileged you are. You’re a prince Stiles, but that doesn’t mean you can have everything you want. So I’m sorry if you have to leave your little cook boyfriend behind..”

“Excuse me?” Stiles said icily. “ _My little boyfriend._ Tell me dad, when did you start sleeping with the maid? Was it before or after mom died?”

Strangely, that seemed to calm down his dad. “You’re going too far. My relationship with Melissa has nothing to do with this, and not that I owe you an explanation but I only started seeing her years after your mom died. I loved your mother, Stiles.”

“And she loved me,” Stiles countered. “She would have tried to stop a creep like Peter Hale, she wouldn’t have let him near her only son. Not after he tried to…” Stiles quickly swallowed his words, that was one confession his dad didn’t need to hear.

“What did he try to do?” his father asked. “If he touches you..”

“What are you going to do if he touches me? You just said I have to go to a strange country with him. But don’t worry, I’m sure Derek still wants the first try.”

His dad collapsed in his couch, pouring some whiskey which he drank in one gulp. “You’re right, I should have fought this harder.”

Stiles grabbed the bottle and sat down in front of him. “No, you did the right thing, you can’t choose one person over an entire country. It was irrational of me to project all my anger on you. I guess it was just easy being mad at you, you always hurt the ones you love most. It’s not like I can go shout at the Hales. Ok, I already have, but only at the least scary one.”

John chuckled. “You are so incredibly brave, just like your mother. She was the most amazing woman I’ve ever known and you have all her best qualities, not that she had any bad ones of course. Protecting you was always the most important thing for her and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

“I know,” Stiles said, and took another gulp from his bottle. “We need to stop wasting our energy on fighting each other and start fighting our common enemy: Peter Hale.”

“With pleasure,” his dad smiled. “Let’s destroy him, tell me what you need.”

*

Stiles would never admit this to Scott or Derek, but he felt so much better after making peace with his dad, also a lot drunker. So drunk that the security guard who escorted him to his room, had to support him all the way there. But Stiles didn’t care about the fact that he was going to have a massive hangover tomorrow, he had his dad back, that was the important thing.

Lydia did seem to care about the state he was in. “Stiles, could you please stop killing your brain cells when I need them the most.” She took the paperwork his dad had given him from the guard. “Well at least you brought the important stuff.”

She thanked the guard and helped him into the couch. Then she started reading.

“Hmm, Regent Hale is suspiciously generous. Seriously, he is just starting to throw money now, you can’t be worth that much.”

That comment woke Stiles up enough to say, “I’m priceless, darling.”

“Don’t be silly,” she answered, “everyone has a price. I wish Derek would spill the beans already, maybe you do need to sleep with him.”

“I can’t, we’re not married yet.”

Lydia raised her eyebrows. “Since when do you care about tradition? Besides, that ship has sailed a long time ago. But if you’re not up for it, I’ll gladly seduce him.”

“Don’t,” Stiles said, much louder than he intended to. Great, he was giving himself a headache now.

“Interesting,” she said, “you’re feeling territorial already. Must be a side effect from the werewolves since you’ve never been the jealous type. You don’t seem to care that Danny is dating one of the other chefs.”

Stiles sobered up pretty quickly. “What? He’s dating someone, why didn’t he say anything to me? We literally just slept together.”

“It’s only been three days, it’s not like he’s engaged or anything. Besides, you have to know that Danny would dump this guy immediately if you asked him to. The guy’s crazy about you for some reason.”

“No, he isn’t,” he snorted. “It’s just sex.”

Lydia sidled closer to him. “You have to understand that not everyone is as rational as we are about these things. People tend to develop feelings.”

“I’m nothing like you, Lydia. I’m not so…”

“Cold,” she filled in. “You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think you’re closed off, poor Danny never stood a chance. Listen, I’m only telling you this because I want you to be careful with Derek on the feelings front.”

“Do you honestly think I’m in danger of developing feelings for Derek?” Stiles asked disbelievingly. “I thought you knew me better than that. Plus, the guy doesn’t do relationships remember. You’re the one who did all the research.”

“Exactly, that girl he dated once, she died in the palace so who knows what happened to her. I just don’t want you to follow in her footsteps. People who get close to Derek tend to drop dead.”

“At least his sister is still alive,” Stiles said hopefully.

“Yeah, that’s what he says, it’s not like he gave us any proof.  But whatever, my point is that Derek isn’t a lucky guy. I didn’t exactly picture you marrying Prince Doom.”

“Well I was never going to marry Prince Jackson,” Stiles teased.

There was a slight blush on Lydia’s cheeks. “I am not interested in Prince Jackson, I don’t know why you keep bringing him up.”

“Could it possibly be because I caught the two of you making out in my room. If you wanted to be subtle, that was not the way to do it.”

“It was just a kiss, it didn’t mean anything.”

“Exactly, just like Derek doesn’t mean anything to me and that is how it is going to stay, I promise.”

“You’re starting to sound like that guy in every horror movie, the one who dies.”

Stiles affectionately patted her on the shoulder. Of course she was being ridiculous, the chances of Derek killing him were a lot higher than sweeping him off his feet.

*

“Hello, Isaac, what can I do for you?” Stiles asked cheerfully. He was seriously amazed that he had no headache whatsoever, life was good.

“Prince Stiles,” he said, and made a little bow, “I apologize for interrupting your day, but my prince has requested your company. Would you be able to join him for dinner?”

Stiles considered his answer, he wasn’t really interested in a repeat performance of their last dinner. “Why don’t you tell your boss that he’s welcome to have dinner in my room, I prefer to stay inside if you catch my drift.”

“Totally,” Isaac replied, then caught himself and stuttered, “I mean, I will give him the message, sir. It’s an honor.”

Suddenly, a very panicked Scott jumped in front of him. “Stiles, I need to talk you right now! Oh hey, Isaac!”

“Hello, Scott,” Isaac muttered and now he was really blushing. Stiles smirked, it seemed like Isaac would be a lot more interested in visiting Scott’s room tonight.

Stiles addressed Scott first, “Of course, go inside.” He turned to Isaac and said, “Tell your prince to be here at seven sharp. I’ll be very hungry.”

Isaac made another bow and quickly left.

“Ok, Scott, after you tell your news, I’ve got some news for you. And judging by the look on your face, I think my news might be a lot more pleasant.”

“Stiles, I think I may have a lead on Laura Hale, I think she’s in Beacon Hills.”

“What? Why would she be in Beacon Hills, that doesn’t make any sense.”

Scott took out his cellphone. “Ok, I’m going to show you something. This is a recent picture of Laura Hale, taken six months ago. She disappeared not long after. Now, this is a picture Greenberg took an hour ago in Beacon Hills.”

Stiles switched between the two pictures, but there was only conclusion he could draw. Laura Hale was definitely in Beacon Hills, even if she had dyed her hair red.

*


	4. Chapter 4

“The red hair is definitely an improvement,” Lydia said after careful consideration.

“Thanks, that was a very insightful analysis.” Stiles still couldn’t believe Laura Hale had been right under their noses the entire time. “The question is why did she come all the way here for a makeover? Thoughts, ideas, anyone?”

“She’s clearly in hiding,” Scott replied. “Greenberg is on a beach vacation right now, he’s at least five hours away from the capital. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Which is very unlike him so go Greenberg.”

“I still can’t believe he gave us a breakthrough,” Allison sighed. “You totally need to confront Derek with this information by the way. You can use it as leverage.”

“I’m not convinced that this is good leverage,” Stiles said carefully. “But his reaction will be very important, either he starts threatening me or he tells me the truth. This could get pretty exciting.”

“No matter what happens, I’m staying in the room,” Scott said.

“No offense dude, but I can’t really work my magic with you there. I need to persuade him to tell me everything. Because I still don’t get how Laura being here, lead to me being the Hale family’s chosen one.”

“I’ll read those contracts again,” Lydia said, “that sneaky bastard is planning something.”

*

There was a huge difference between telling his friends he was persuading Derek and actually doing it. Derek was eating his dinner in silence, as usual, when Stiles entered the room.

Maybe it would be easier to just get to the point. “Why is your sister living in Beacon Hills?”

Derek nearly choked. “How could you possibly know that?”

“Like you said earlier, I’m a busy boy. The only thing my source doesn’t know is why your sister considers Beacon Hills a nice holiday resort. Care to explain?”

“I don’t know if I can trust you,” Derek said, he sounded almost disappointed about that.

“We’re allies, remember? If you’re really here to help your sister, I could help you. We can help each other,” he repeated. “I promise.”

Derek looked into his eyes, it felt a bit intense to be honest, and finally said, “I trust you, I’m blaming my wolf instincts for that.”

Stiles chuckled at that. “Do I smell that good?”

“Like cheese, but I like cheese. Anyway, my sister has been here for six months. And I am the reason she’s here. You have to understand that I can’t tell you everything, for your own protection. The more you know, the more danger you’re in.”

“From your uncle,” Stiles concluded.

“Yes, Peter. Something else you probably already know is that my sister became the alpha when my father died, not me.”

“But now you’re the alpha, how did you pull that off? According to Scott, the alpha has to die to transfer the power.”

“Your friend Scott is a very young werewolf, Laura and I were raised with the proper werewolf traditions, we _made_ it work. But losing the alpha status made Laura a lot more vulnerable, that’s why she went into hiding. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you why she chose Beacon Hills.”

“Wasn’t your protection enough?” Stiles asked. “Did she really have to flee her own country?”

“Now we’re officially getting to the part I can’t talk to you about, at least not yet. All you need to know is that my sister is safe here, for now.”

Stiles looked skeptical. “So all this time you’ve been trying to _persuade_ me to come to Wolfsbane with you when your own sister ran away because it was too dangerous. That’s not very encouraging. Why are you so sure you can protect me?”

“It’s different between mates,” Derek explained. “And my uncle is very keen on this engagement, he’s not going to do anything to jeopardize it. Killing you isn’t very beneficiary for him. You should have paid more attention in that werewolf museum.”

“But when else was I going to be able to check out your ass?” Stiles asked sheepishly.

He knew there was a smile on Derek’s face, even if he would never admit it. “The second you’re my mate, you’re safe. Because in most cases, when one mate dies, the other one follows, that’s how strong the connection is. Which means if he kills you, he’d kill me as well.”

“Why wouldn’t he kill you?” Stiles questioned.

“Easy, if I die, he’ll never be King.”

“So, he’s after the crown,” Stiles said, sitting a lot straighter. “I don’t get it, if he wants to have that crown, he has to kill you. Plus, he’ll also be the alpha. Double win.”

“You’re forgetting that Peter can’t inherit the crown. He was my mother’s brother, he’s not part of the Hale line. The only reason he’s the Regent is because he’s also my legal guardian. If something happens to me before I become King, some distant cousin of mine will be the next King, that’s the last thing he wants. Of course, he also knows that the day I become King, I will change that ridiculous law and make Laura my heir. Something my father was planning on doing before he died.”

“Basically, he wants to keep you as his pet, or in your case lapdog. That’s actually even more devious than I thought. Is that why he chose me as your intended, because I have a reputation to be easily influenced?”

“No,” Derek grunted, “he just likes you, I’m afraid. Although there is probably something else going on, but my uncle doesn’t exactly confide in me.”

Stiles swallowed, that wasn’t exactly great news.

“Do you understand why it’s so important that I go through with this marriage? Peter still thinks I’m his ‘lapdog’, and I really need him to continue to believe that until I’m finally king. He believes I killed my sister for him, because she threatened him.”

Stiles remembered something. “That night on the balcony, when you stopped him from harassing me. Was that the first time you publically stood up to him?”

“The first time in a really long time. And it felt really good.”

Stiles smiled, it seemed they had more in common than he had ever considered.

*

After their very informative talk, Stiles briefed his friends on everything Prince Derek told him. It was a very enlightening conversation for everyone.

“Wow, so I guess he’s not a creep after all,” Danny said, effectively breaking their silence.

“Yeah, it seems like I need to brush up on my werewolf knowledge,” Scott declared, looking quite apologetic. “I did accuse the guy of killing his own sister.”

“You couldn’t have known that,” Allison assured him. “Those royal werewolves apparently have their own, secret rituals. I’m just glad that Derek isn’t the big bad wolf.”

“So I guess that means you’ll marry him,” Lydia said harshly. “Seems like you really never had a chance. Until Derek’s birthday, Peter has the reins and he demands a Stilinski-Hale wedding. Guess we will just have to obey then.”

Stiles didn’t understand her reaction. “Derek and I are both completely stuck, what more do you want us to do?”

“We could always kill him,” she suggested.

“You’re not being rational about this,” he argued. “Isn’t that what you always told me? Feelings will always stand in the way of a rational decision. Killing Peter before Derek becomes king, basically means that a very unstable Wolfsbane will attack us. Not to mention their many allies, everyone is going to know it was us. The Regent has everyone in his pocket.”

“Well Stiles, it seems like you don’t need an advisor anymore,” Lydia said, before she stormed out of the room.

“Ok, what’s up with her? Because I’m not getting it, I finally accept that this marriage is going to happen and she flips out on me. I could use a little support here.”

“She’s just worried about you,” Danny said. “You do realize that this means that you’re leaving Beacon Hills forever.”

“That’s not true, Derek said I could govern this place. I can even move back here after a couple of years. Ok, it’s not ideal but at least I’m not going to run around with werewolves for the rest of my life.”

Scott gave him a fist bump. “She’s going to come around, dude. Just give us some time to adjust to the fact that we’re no longer fighting the people planning on taking you away from us.”

“Well I’m sure that the Wolfsbane palace is big enough so you can all have a room. Lydia is going to thank me later, Jackson’s kingdom is right next to Derek’s.”

*

Stiles would never have expected it, but it was actually kind of freeing to finally accept that he was marrying Derek Hale. Deep down, he had always known it was hopeless ever since he saw the glee on Peter’s face when he told him the news. Now that he and Derek were finally on the same page, there was a chance they might actually become friends. Which would be neat in the future, because Stiles seriously still disagreed with that whole monogamy thing that was always mentioned in marriage vows.

His face must have spelled out the discomfort he felt about the word ‘husband’, since Allison looked quite worried.

“Everything all right, Prince Stiles? We can go over your schedule for the rest of the week another time.”

“Yes, everything’s fine. And could you please drop the whole ‘prince’ thing completely, that’s a princely order.”

Allison gave him a smile that showed off her dimples. “You have to admit I’ve gotten a lot better with the years. Believe me, my father would have a heart attack if he knew we play drinking games. This was supposed to be professional.”

“Ah, but we’ve crossed that line a long time ago. I always knew we were going to be friends and I choose my friends very carefully. You were very lucky.”

“I truly was,” Allison agreed, pretending to be very serious. “But I’m glad you turned out not be an asshole. Well, you are an asshole, but a likeable one.”

“I believe insulting the crown prince is a criminal offense, you’ll hang for this, Argent.”

“Please, like you could ever catch me, Stilinski,” she boasted. Then she added, “Tell Derek to reserve a room for me, I take my duty to protect the Stilinski family very seriously, we need you to continue the line after all.”

“Oh God, I’ve never even thought about that, you don’t think that werewolves can knock up humans, right?”

“I do think Scott mentioned something like that once,” she answered quite seriously.

Stiles’ eyes widened.

“He also mentioned that you can be a bit of an idiot sometimes.”

Stiles threw a pillow at her. He never did hear his schedule for that week since Allison was too busy laughing at him.

*

“I think we need to break up,” Stiles announced.

“You’re not making any sense,” Danny replied. “But I also don’t have time for this, something is wrong with my coq au vin and I can’t figure out what. It has to be that Brett, I knew he was doing something weird with that wine bottle earlier. Probably replaced it with some cheap shit. I will get to the bottom of this, figuratively speaking.”

“Danny, could you pay attention for like one minute? This is really important.”

Danny sighed. “I’m sorry but I really don’t have time for this. What does that even mean: ‘breaking up’. We were never even dating.”

“And of course you’re dating someone else at the moment.”

Now Danny did pay attention to Stiles. “Sorry, I should have told you. But it’s really nothing important, definitely not exclusive or anything.”

“I know that, you’re a good guy, totally not the cheating type. But we still need to end this, whatever it is that we have, this friends with benefits relationship.”

“Because you’re marrying Derek,” Danny said, sounding surprisingly vicious.

“No, of course not. Because we are friends and that’s the most important thing. Especially if I’m really moving to Wolfsbane, I can really use all the friends I’ve got right now.”

“Yeah, I got the message. You can leave now.”

“Danny, you are not seriously jealous of _Derek_. When did you suddenly start believing in the fairytale that is an arranged marriage with a happy ending. Derek and I are not going to live happily ever after.”

“It’s not that I didn’t know that this was never going anywhere. It doesn’t matter how ‘normal’ you act, I never forgot that you’re the crown prince. But I guess a small part of me couldn’t help but hope...”

“It’s not like I never thought about,” Stiles confessed. “But I think if there really was something real between us, we would have known by now. My dad always used to say that when it’s true love, you just know.”

“I hate how mature you’ve suddenly become, it would have been fun hating you for a while. Especially if you’re leaving me behind, I don’t think they need my culinary expertise in Wolfsbane.”

“I don’t know, no one makes steak like you do. They’re werewolves, I’m sure they love some good meat.”

“Guess who’s not getting any dinner tonight.”

“Not a problem, I’ve heard from a reliable source that the coq au vin sucks anyway.”

*

Derek Hale really was ridiculously good looking. That was the one thing Stiles learned after standing next to him for two hours, they were supposed to shoot their engagement pictures. Stiles didn’t really understand the point of officially announcing it when the entire kingdom already knew anyway. Too bad he didn’t manage to find out his wedding date.

“Do you really have no idea?” he asked a very tired-looking Derek.

The photographer had been very determined to get a deliriously happy looking Stiles and Derek in his photos. A task too large for Derek, Stiles was wondering where all his acting skills had suddenly disappeared to.

“I really have no idea, the only thing I do know is that Peter doesn’t want to stick around much longer. He wants to go back home as soon as possible.”

“So we can expect wedding bells in our near future. That’s not very comforting.”

Derek looked sympathetic for once. “I know how hard it was for you to come to terms with this. But I would like to say that I’m very grateful that you have kept my sister’s secret. She’s very important to me.”

“I understand. My dad is the only family I have left, I don’t know what I would do if I lost him.”

“You still have your friends,” Derek said.

Stiles grinned. “That reminds me that you were going to explain to me how you managed to find Isaac and Erica.”

“Of course, we all know how important honesty is in a marriage. Laura has an old friend who set up a charity that focuses on helping _gifted_ people. That’s how I found Erica and Isaac, they had their own reasons for wanting to join my entourage. I needed people I could trust in my staff since I’m trying to quietly replace Peter’s people with my own.”

Stiles was genuinely impressed. “You’re a lot more devious than I first gave you credit for. Honestly, we all thought you were a bit stupid.”

“That’s exactly what I’m going for,” Derek said, sounding amused. “So I’ll take that as a compliment. But I am fortunate that Peter isn’t an alpha, alphas are much better at sensing people’s emotions. It’s harder to lie to them, but not impossible of course.”

“Any other special powers I should be aware of, besides being able to change into a wolf?” Stiles questioned him.

Derek answered after a moment of hesitation. “I don’t really consider it a special power, but there is the whole knot thing.”

“Oh my god, is that real?”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on giving you a private screening. It’s very rare and mainly used for procreation amongst powerful werewolves so it doesn’t really apply to you.”

“Thank god,” Stiles exhaled. “Not that I was planning on checking out your dick in the first place, I mean I think we both agree that this will be a very sexless marriage.”

“I have no illusions about you living as a monk, but I don’t plan on having many affairs.” Derek managed to make the word ‘affair’ sound like the dirtiest word in the world.

“So you haven’t left anyone behind in Wolfsbane? A boyfriend or girlfriend?”

“No, there’s no one. And like I said I don’t think there will be anyone in the near future.”

“Ok, I don’t want to sound like a tabloid writer, but there was a girl once, wasn’t there?”

Stiles immediately regretted mentioning it when he saw the pained look on Derek’s face. “That was a long time ago, I prefer not talking about it. But talking about the present, are you planning on bringing Danny?”

“No, not all, he belongs here, not with me in Wolfsbane.”

“You seemed rather attached to him earlier.”

“He’s my friend, that’s all. But I am planning on bringing Allison, Scott and maybe Lydia with me. Is that a problem?”

“Of course not,” Derek assured him. “I understand that you want to surround yourself with people you trust. It surprises me that Lydia isn’t a definite."

“She thinks I shouldn’t give up yet,” Stiles said. “I don’t think she is planning on coming to our wedding.”

“I hope you manage to convince her, I think you’re going to need her in the future.”

“Just wondering, is Prince Jackson still available?”

“Why wouldn’t he be? I don’t think anyone can stand to be around him for that long.”

*

With that knowledge, Stiles skipped off to Lydia’s seldom seen room. He couldn’t even remember the last time he visited her there. He knocked on the door, saying, “Lydia, this is your crown prince speaking. Please be kind enough to open the door.”

The door was opened by Lydia, but she didn’t look very kind. Even though it was very hard to look threatening with pink bunny slippers, she somehow managed to pull it off. “You may be a prince, but you’re still an idiot.”

“Ouch, I come bearing good news so you really shouldn’t shoot the messenger. Prince Jackson is still on the market so maybe the two of you can finally rekindle the romance. Wouldn’t it be cool if you became a princess?”

“Why on earth would I want to be a princess, it’s a useless position, I’d rather be the Prime Minister.”

“Yes, of course,” Stiles said. “Wait a minute …  is that why you’re so pissed off? Because you need me to fulfill your political ambitions? I’m so sorry that I couldn’t be of much use to you, Lydia. Turns out I really was useless after all.”

The tables were suddenly turned, now Stiles was the one who was upset.

“That’s not what I meant,” Lydia yelled. “You know how much I care about you, but I can’t come with you, I belong here.”

“But you’re my personal advisor,” Stiles countered. “That’s your job description, advising me. How are you going to do that from so far? And it’s not like I expected you to be by my side for the rest of my life, I always knew you’d be running the country one day.”

“We were supposed to run it together.” She sounded defeated. “You’ve always underestimated yourself, Stiles. Ironically, this whole experience made you grow up and now I’m losing you.”

Stiles took her hand in his. “You’re never going to lose me, we’ll always be friends. I’ll make sure that Deaton gives you the position you deserve and don’t forget that Derek promised me that I could govern this place later.”

“Fucking Derek,” she uttered. “I don’t care how much you like him, I will always hate him.”

“I don’t _like_ him,” he clarified. “But we do need to work together, I don’t want to be at war for the rest of my life. And you never know, royal divorce might become a new trend and then I’m totally going to jump on it.”

“Sure you are,” she said disbelievingly, then she hugged him. It was their first hug but Stiles didn’t think Lydia would be very interested if he notified her about this historic fact. So he just hugged her back. He was really going to miss her.

*

Stiles knew something was up when Isaac looked very displeased. “Prince Stiles, I have to inform you that we are planning on leaving your country in three days.”

“Three days,” Stiles repeated. “Well thanks for the heads up, guess I better start packing my suitcase. I really do appreciate the warning. If there is anything I can do for you, do tell.”

Isaac gave him a quick bow and left the premises. Weirdly, it was kind of a relief to finally have a date, even if it officially meant the end of his old life, it was time to build a new one.

Allison and Scott immediately started making battle plans. Those two should be leading an army.

Stiles also visited his father to make some last-minute arrangements. There was going to be yet another dinner to celebrate Stiles and Derek’s marriage (not that there was anything to celebrate) and Stiles was planning on saying goodbye to the people in the palace.

That was why he was busy planning his real farewell party in The Spiral when someone asked him, “Can I have a word with you, Prince Stiles?”

He looked up and discovered Erica was the one who wanted his attention. That was weird. “Of course, Ms. Reyes, not a problem. Do sit down.” He pointed at the seat in front of him. He hadn’t really expected company in this sitting room, Stiles considered it one of the hidden spots of the palace. No one ever came here.

“You can call me Erica,” she said politely, sitting down carefully like she was expecting an attack at any time.

Stiles didn’t think the palace was _that_ dangerous. “Alright Erica, what can I do for you?”

“I just wanted to talk about your security once you arrive in Wolfsbane. I know that Scott is your main dude and he’s really good but once your Derek’s husband, you’re also going to be my responsibility. And I take my responsibilities very seriously.”

“I’m touched,” Stiles replied sarcastically. “Tell me, do you really like my fiancé this much or is it the guilt talking?”

She chuckled, she had a really evil laugh. “I’m glad Derek isn’t marrying an idiot after all. And yes, it is guilt, let’s just say that I made the mistake of trusting someone I should have never trusted in the first place. I’m not planning on repeating that mistake.”

“So you’re planning on never trusting anyone,” Stiles said. “That is going to be difficult, but rest assured you can trust Scott. He’s the most loyal friend I could ask for.”

“Hmm, we’ll see about that. But he is really cute, still single?”

“Actually he is, but I think that might be changing in the near future. He’s got his eye on someone. Probably for the best, you can’t have a good relationship without trust, right?”

“Never said I was planning on having a relationship with him, but I get what you’re saying: hands off. I think I might have an idea who you’re talking about.”

“You’d better or you’re really not as good as you think you are. Another question: would you prefer glitter or sparkly glitters. I’m doing an eighties theme but I don’t want it to be too over the top.”

“Is Derek invited to this party because in that case: definitely sparkly glitters.”

“Aww, Erica, I think Scott is going to have some serious competition.”

*

Thanks to Erica, Stiles was definitely going with the sparkly glitter theme, and he invited the entire palace to enjoy it. He was actually proud of himself that he managed to pull it off, even if Allison assisted him a little. But this was what he was supposed to be doing for the rest of his life: throwing parties, although they would probably be a lot more dignified than this one. No one would ever accuse The Spiral of looking classy, but tonight the place looked completely trashed. Stiles believed he had hugged at least a hundred people tonight and kissed at least four.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” Josh said dramatically, at least Stiles thought that was his name. “I’m really going to miss you.”

“Well it’s only a wedding, not a funeral. I’ll be back before you know it, don’t worry. Now enjoy the party, have you checked out the chocolate fountain yet? It’s supposed to be the biggest in the country.”

Josh didn’t cheer up. “The one at your wedding is probably going to be bigger.”

Ok, Josh was officially a buzz kill. “I have to go, I need to say goodbye to some other people. Good luck with your future endeavors, Josh.”

Josh smiled, apparently that really was his name, and then stuck his tongue down Stiles’ throat. He really was going to miss him. And now that Stiles was busy making out with him, other memories were coming back as well.

“Stiles, could you follow me please?”

“Scott, I’m kind of busy.” Now that he remembered Josh, he was reluctant to let him go.

“Derek just arrived,” Scott announced. “I think you’d better say something to him.”

“Alright, I will. Sorry, Josh.”

“It’s not a problem, Stiles, but I will see you later right?”

“Of course, no one could stop me from seeing you. So, where is Derek?”

It didn’t take long for Stiles to spot his future hubby. He kind of stood out in this crowd with his fancy suit when everyone else was dressed to party. “What brings you here, Prince Derek?” Stiles asked him.

“Erica told me it would be polite to make an appearance, I hope I wasn’t intruding on anything.”

He sounded so freaking serious that it was starting to bug Stiles. “Seriously lighten up, Derek, there’s no need to be this sour all the time. This is a party, cheer up.”

“I don’t exactly have anything to be cheerful about,” Derek replied, still looking quite sullen.

“You have me. I mean, my party is supposed to entertain people. This is my last hurrah and you are not going to ruin it. Now tell me what is your type?”

“My type?” Derek repeated, his eyebrows raised.

“You know, do you like blondes, brunettes, redheads? Do you like girls? I don’t know.”

Derek’s face expressed his frustration. “Prince Stiles, I didn’t come to this party to ‘hook up’ with anyone. I was just trying to be a good fiancé since it’s important that we show an united front. I have a lot more important things on my mind than who I’m sleeping with next.”

“Alright, I get it. But you have to understand that I do want to have some fun with the people I’m probably not going to see for a very long time. I don’t have a lot of good friends and I’m losing two of them.”

“I realize that,” Derek conceded. “And I’m not trying to ruin your mood so I’m going back to the palace. Be ready to leave at eight in the morning, my uncle prefers an early start.”

“I’ll be there,” Stiles promised. Now he was off to find Josh, it was time to make some new memories.

Unfortunately, poor Josh seemed lost in the crowd. Not that Stiles really minded because he did manage to locate Lydia who seemed to be performing her best Derek impression. She looked very uninterested. “Hello, Lydia, I can tell you’re really enjoying this party.”

“Yes, I’m having the time of my life here. But I’m glad we can finally have a talk, there are still some things we need to discuss. I did some research on Wolfsbane’s government and I found something interesting on Boyd..”

Stiles cut her off quickly, “I appreciate your effort but you can just drop off your presentation in my room. I’ll read it on the way over there. I’m more interested in talking to my friend right now, not my personal advisor.”

“I hope you don’t think I’m giving you the same send-off Danny is planning on giving you,” she sneered.

“Not in my wildest dreams would I ever presume that, although being married to you would be quite an adventure.”

“Same goes for you,” she said jokingly. “Right, I’m not big on the whole saying goodbye thing so let’s keep this short. We’ll keep in touch.”

“Wow, that is really short. And of course you can expect my daily email begging for your wise words but there is something else I’ve been wondering about. Are you coming to my wedding?”

“No,” she answered, sounding very definitive. “I’m sorry, I just can’t watch you marry that creep, but I promise I’ll make it to the next one.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Stiles said, even though he quietly thought that there probably never was going to be a next one. “So are we going to take a spin on the dance floor?”

“How can I refuse a prince? Even if he is a horrible dancer.”

Stiles felt pretty offended by that comment even if was true. But they did dance for at least three songs and then he spent the rest of the night dancing with Danny.

He never did see Josh again, but his last night in Beacon Hills was perfect.

*


	5. Chapter 5

“Good morning, Prince Stiles. I hope you had a good night.”

“Actually Scott, it was a really good night. Although I didn’t see you much, too busy smooching with Isaac?”

Scott blushed almost as much as Isaac did, quite an impressive feat. “For your information, I spent most of the night guarding you. There were a lot of people attending that party, it’s my job to keep an eye on them. But I’m glad you had fun, I don’t think we’ll be having much fun where we’re going.”

“Yes, I know,” he sighed. “I’ll get dressed, call me when Allison gets here.”

“I shall,” Scott said and made a little bow. “Actually, I was planning on seeing my mom first, she’s a bit worried about this whole Wolfsbane thing.”

“Go, dude. She already gave me a very lengthy lecture so maybe you’ll be lucky and escape with a hug. I was in my dad’s office for two hours yesterday.”

Stiles concentrated on getting dressed and making sure everything essential was packed, he knew this wasn’t a definitive goodbye but it could take months before he got back. He would be a married man by then. Weird.

“Are you ready?” Allison inquired. “Sorry that I’m a bit late, I just wanted to say goodbye to my father.”

“Our parents are really acting like we are never going to see them again. I don’t think Peter is planning on waiting that long for the wedding.”

“I don’t think my dad is planning on coming to the wedding,” Allison said. “Not that he doesn’t like you, it’s just that he’s not very fond of werewolves.”

Stiles shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a real wedding. It’s just a good excuse for us to have another party like last night, but with a lot more werewolves on the guestlist.”

“Well our private plane is waiting so we’ll be able to check out Wolfsbane soon. Have you ever been there?” she asked curiously.

Stiles contemplated that question. “I think I went to the funeral of Derek’s family, it’s all a bit of a blur. I wish I remembered more but Erica did promise me she would protect me in the dark corners of the palace.”

Allison’s eyes darkened. “I don’t think you’ll need her protection, you’ve got Scott and me. Trust me, they’ll need an army to get past us.”

*

The flight was a lot longer than Stiles had hoped it would be, he was not a big fan of flying. But when they finally did arrive in Wolfsbane, it was impressive to say the least. During the flight, he had read an old-fashioned travel guide to Wolfsbane so he already knew that the palace was pretty fancy. But it wasn’t until he laid eyes on it that he realized how rich and powerful the Hales truly were. Especially considering they practically had to rebuild the building from scratch after the fire. Stiles did not want to know the budget for this place.

The weird thing was that they managed to make the building look old. If Stiles had the chance to build his own palace, it would look a lot more modern than this one. But it probably wouldn’t look nearly as majestic, this palace was clearly built to impress.

“Wow, this place looks medieval but in a cool way,” Scott remarked. “Plus, it’s at least ten times bigger than our palace.”

“I did notice that,” Stiles replied. “I guess that’s good news, more places to avoid Peter.”

If Stiles ever needed to hide, his room or rather apartment was a good place to start. He actually had two bedrooms to himself. They quickly decided Scott would move in with Stiles. It was a relief that he could maintain the same freedom he had back home. The minute he turned eighteen, he had asked his dad for his own apartment.

On the other hand, part of him still hadn’t accepted that this was his new home. It felt wrong.

“I’m not going to lie, my room is super cool,” Allison announced. “And it’s only two doors down so that should be convenient. Do you want to throw a housewarming party tonight?” she asked Stiles.

“Hmm, that is a good idea, my dear Allison. But we’ll have to have dinner first with the family. After enduring that, we deserve a reward.”

There was a polite knock on the door, Stiles presumed it was Isaac and was proven right when he saw Scott’s face when he opened the door.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Prince Stiles,” Isaac said. “There is an unexpected addition to the dinner table tonight. Our Prime Minister shall be joining us tonight, she has returned earlier than expected from Europe.”

“Excellent news, Isaac, I look forward to meeting her.”

Isaac smiled. “That is good to hear, sir, since she is really looking forward to meeting you.” As usual, Isaac made a quick bow before he left the room.

“Why would she look forward to meeting me?” Stiles wondered out loud. “And more importantly, whose side is she on?”

*

Dinner was a very formal affair. It didn’t escape Stiles’ notice that he was seated as far as possible from Peter who expressed his disappointment about this when he greeted him. Stiles didn’t reply but thought to himself he would never sit at this dining table again.

Apparently Ms. Morrell had requested to be seated next to him, what was her deal? It reminded him of the first time he met Lydia, Stiles had the feeling he was being continually assessed by her. Fortunately, Lydia had decided he was worth her time, hopefully Morrell would come to the same conclusion.

Ms. Morrell asked him another question. So far he had told her about his childhood, the palace and his dad. What else did she want to know?

“Tell me, what are your plans in the near future.”

“Um, get married I guess,” Stiles replied. Well that wasn’t a stupid answer at all. “It will take me some time to adapt to this country,” he added quickly. “But after the wedding, I can start thinking about my duties.”

“Are you interested in these duties or would you prefer to take a back seat?” she pressed.

“I didn’t come all this way to be treated as a trophy husband if that’s what you’re wondering about,” Stiles spit back.

Fortunately the Prime Minister didn’t seem insulted by his not very polite answer. “Alright, I guess I got my answer.” Then she whispered in his ear, “Give your phone to my assistant, his name is Ethan.”

Stiles frowned, but didn’t whisper anything back. That was a bit of an odd request. Stiles stayed mostly silent during the rest of dinner, even if Peter and Derek were constantly glaring at him. But when he could finally escape, he dropped his phone in Ethan’s pocket first.

*

“I can’t believe you actually gave her your phone.” Allison was clearly not pleased. “Why don’t you immediately tell her all our darkest secrets so she can use them against us.”

“I think I can trust her,” Stiles said, hoping he sounded convincing. “I don’t know, she seemed to want to find out if I had a backbone so she’s probably not on Peter’s side.”

“Probably is not good enough,” Scott chimed in, he didn’t look very pleased either. “Seriously, Stiles, you need to discuss these things with us first.”

“Ok, you two are not my parents. I think I’m old enough to make my own decisions even if they do turn out to be mistakes.”

Allison was prepared to argue that point but Stiles had a visitor at his door. It was Ethan, dutifully bringing his phone back.

“Keep this close to you,” Ethan said, “it might be useful in the future.”

“You’re probably not going to tell me how, right?”

“I’m sorry, Prince Stiles,” Ethan said, he even bowed a little, “but I can promise you that everything will become clear in the near future.”

“Sure, it will,” Allison scoffed, she didn’t seem to possess the patience Ethan asked for and dragged him into the room. “I am so done with all these freaking secrets, you are going to give me one good reason why we should trust you or I will start breaking fingers. You’ll heal but I can promise you that it will freaking hurt.”

“Allison, get off him,” Stiles ordered.

Reluctantly she let him go. “You’re very fortunate that he’s here. Now start talking,” she said menacingly.

“Wow, I thought the people from Beacon Hills were supposed to be nice. Clearly, I need to stop watching travel shows. I understand your frustration,” he said to Allison, “but I am just following orders here. If you want to know what’s up, ask my boss.”

Scott continued the interrogation. “Who is your boss?”

Ethan smiled. “That is actually a debatable question, but at the moment I guess it’s Ms. Morrell, she seems to like being in control. But my true loyalty is with the Hales, at least the ones not called Peter,” he clarified.

“That doesn’t really clear anything up,” Allison said. “But you can go for now, that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. I’m sure your boss can find herself another minion.”

“Seriously, not friendly people,” Ethan mumbled and quickly left.

“That went well,” Stiles concluded. “Allison, do I need to sign you up for some anger management classes?”

“I’m sorry, alright, I got a bit carried away. But all these secrets are driving me crazy, I just want some freaking answers already.”

“Then let’s check this phone, see if Ms. Morrell left any special messages for me, maybe she wants to propose too. “ Stiles didn’t find any messages, but someone had added a new contact. “Three guesses who Red Riding Hood is. Hmm, guess it’s time for me to meet the illustrious Laura Hale.”

There was a lot of tension in the room until the call was finally answered. “Hello, am I speaking to Princess Laura?” Stiles asked nervously.

“That’s me. Of course if you’re skeptical, I could always tell you exactly what you said to me the first time we met, at King Harold’s wedding.”

“No need,” Stiles rushed to say. “I was a weird child, but I assure you that I’ve matured a lot. Apparently I’m even ready for marriage.”

“Yes, I know all about that,” she said. “Under normal circumstances, I would congratulate you, but I don’t think you’re celebrating at the moment.”

“Not particularly, but let’s get to the point, shall we? Why all this secrecy, after all we are going to be family soon.”

“Peter is a very dangerous man, if he knew I was still alive he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me so you understand that I would like to keep things quiet. Derek told me that we could trust you, that’s why I gave you my number. I wanted to ask you myself if you really want do this.”

“What are you asking me to do?” Stiles asked.

“Help me destroy my uncle, would you be willing to do that?”

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Stiles said confidently. “Where do we start?”

After their conversation was wrapped up, Stiles declared, “I like her. I’m seriously wondering if I could switch siblings, a marriage with Laura seems a lot more fun than one with Derek.”

“I’m just glad that they’re not keeping us completely in the dark anymore,” Allison said, relieved. “Although I still think there is more going on here than they’re telling us.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Peter started that fire,” Stiles said, it was quite chilling to think about. “The guy is obviously a complete psychopath, he was proud of Derek for killing his own sister. That is not normal behavior. It’s actually a surprise Derek turned out as well as he did. I think I’ll pay him another visit, see what he thinks about all of this.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Scott agreed. “But can we have our party first? I think we deserve it after all this scheming.”

*

Stiles felt a bit confused when he woke up the next morning. It took a while before he realized exactly where he was. It had been a short night for him anyway, he couldn’t stop thinking about the Hale family. And thinking about Scott and Allison, he was seriously starting to worry that he brought them in serious danger. But he knew that they would never go back without him. Loyalty could be very dangerous sometimes.

He decided to get up to eat some breakfast, hopefully that could distract him for a while. But that proved to be impossible when Derek was at his door only ten minutes later.

“Prince Derek, we meet again. What are you doing here this early?”

“I was actually planning on briefing Allison on some things, I just thought you would appreciate hearing it first. It’s about our wedding,” Derek explained.

“Alright, come in. Is this about one of those werewolf traditions mentioned in the museum?”

“It is actually, I already told you that after our wedding we will also be established as mates, only it’s a bit more complicated than that. We need to form a connection if we want our mating ritual to be successful.”

Stiles’ eyebrows were raised in suspicion. “What exactly is a _mating ritual_?”

“Oh, it’s nothing like that,” Derek said shyly. “What we need to do is make a sacrifice at the family tree, have our family’s approval which we already have and I have to mark you. To show to the world that I’ve chosen you as my mate.”

“Ok, does the biting part hurt?” Stiles asked, slightly concerned.

“No, it’s like a mosquito bite, you will hardly feel it. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“Of course you won’t, it’s not like you’ve got fiancés lining up. You’d better treat me right.”

“I was planning to,” Derek said. “I have to visit Allison, let’s hope I manage to survive.”

Stiles chuckled. “Good luck, you will need it.”

He decided to take a stroll through the palace to check out the place, with Scott of course. Just after they left the portrait room which featured a hilarious portrait of a young Derek, they ran into Erica. Or rather she ran into them.

“Prince Stiles, I’m glad Scott managed to keep you alive,” she said haughtily, glancing at Scott.

Scott looked offended. “I know how to do my job, Ms. Reyes.”

“Of course you do,” she retorted sarcastically. Well, they weren’t going to be best friends any time soon.

“I actually have some interesting news for you, the guests have started arriving in the palace, including Prince Jackson who keeps leering at me, eww.”

Stiles was confused. “What guests? Is there another party going on? I just saw Derek and he didn’t tell me anything.”

Erica frowned. “Oh, I guess he doesn’t know either. The guests are arriving for your wedding which takes place next week by the way. There was an announcement at the staff meeting, I just presumed Peter told Derek in advance. I should have known.”

Stiles swallowed and tried not to panic. “Next week! Oh so I guess that this is really happening.” A small part of him had always believed that something would happen to stop the wedding in the end. “Thanks for telling me, I think I’m going back to my room now.”

Scott had to do a little sprint to catch up with him. “That was shocking news, I can’t believe Prince Jackson knew your wedding date before you.”

“Well it’s not like this is actually my wedding or Derek’s. This is Peter’s wedding and he’s trying to make it clear to us that he’s the one orchestrating everything. We’ll be lucky to score an invitation or rather unlucky.”

Then Stiles spotted his worst nightmare in the flesh. “Oh God, I really am the unluckiest person in the world.”

“What’s up, Stilinski? I can’t believe you managed to convince Derek to marry you, that dude is way hot, he could do so much better than you.”

“It’s nice to see you too, Jackson,” Stiles replied politely. He had learned to give only very short answers to Jackson, it was best to keep their conversations short.

“I’m just glad we’ve finally got another royal wedding, the last one we had was so boring but then again the groom was like sixty years old.”

“More like thirty,” Stiles replied. “Sorry, Prince Jackson, but I still need to prepare the royal wedding you’re expecting.”

“Just out of curiosity, did you bring that redhead with you to Wolfsbane?”

For the first and probably only time, Stiles was relieved Lydia didn’t come with him. “No, unfortunately she decided to stay home, they couldn’t miss her.”

Jackson looked slightly disappointed but he covered it up quickly with his usual arrogance. “No biggie, I’ve got my eye on blondie. You know that hot blond bodyguard, I know you’re into dudes but you must have noticed her.”

“Her name is Erica,” Stiles said, he was really done with this conversation. “I’ll see you at the wedding, Prince Jackson.”

A couple of seconds later, Scott burst out in laughter. “He really is ridiculous, I almost feel sorry for Erica.”

“Sure you do, buddy. I didn’t exactly miss the hateful looks you two were throwing at each other.”

Scott looked very apologetic. “I’m sorry, I know we shouldn’t get caught up in stupid feuds at a time like this but she said some truly hurtful things about some members of our security team. She told Joey he needed to visit the gym, that’s just rude.”

“Since we’re talking about Derek’s entourage,” Stiles said carefully, “what about Isaac?”

Alarm bells were clearly ringing in Scott’s head. “What about him?”

“Um, you really don’t think I haven’t noticed the longing looks between the two of you.” Stiles opened the door of his room, now they could have some privacy for this conversation.

“Ok, we may have slept together a few times,” Scott said.

“You what!” Stiles shouted, taken aback by surprise. “I thought all of this tension was leading up to a first kiss and now you’re saying you’ve already slept together.”

“I thought you already knew,” Scott said with an accusatory tone. “It’s not like we were that subtle. I just thought we had a silent agreement not to talk about it.”

Stiles sat down to process this information. “Does this look like the face of someone who knows?” He pointed at his very shocked face. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me, I tell you about all my sexual exploits.”

“Isaac is not one of my sexual exploits,” Scott scoffed.

“Oh great, so you’re dating my future husband’s personal assistant. Yes, I don’t see how this could have been relevant information for me. Is Allison dating Erica too?”

“I’m sorry, Stiles, I really thought you knew, I totally would have told you otherwise.”

“I probably would have known if I hadn’t been distracted by this whole Hale thing. My Scott senses aren’t working properly at the moment. But I’m happy for you, Isaac seems like a cool guy.”

“He really is,” Scott said dreamily. “But are you sure you’re cool about this, because it’s not exactly very professional.”

“Of course I’m fine with it, why wouldn’t I want my best friend to be happy?”

Scott let out a sigh of relief and it didn’t take long before they were playing video games again. Some things never really changed.

*

Word always spread fast in the palace so Stiles wasn’t very surprised to receive another visit from Derek.

“I guess you already heard the news?”

“Yes, Erica told me but of course she thought I already knew since this is supposed to be my wedding.”

“Peter is such a dick,” Allison said.

No one argued with her.

“Anyway, since things seem to be speeding up, we will have to visit the family tree later today, to make sure everything is in order,” Derek said.

“We’re not sacrificing a cute bunny, are we?” Stiles asked.

“No, this isn’t about animals, we’re sacrificing a bit of blood to strengthen the bloodline.”

“Ew, werewolves are so weird,” Stiles said and turned up his nose in disgust. “I still can’t believe I’m actually marrying one.”

Derek didn’t look too offended by Stiles’ comment which was a good sign really. Even he realized that there was something weird about sacrificing blood to a tree.

Although it turned out that the whole blood sacrifice thing wasn’t nearly as creepy as Stiles had expected it to be.

The family tree was massive (of course), every Hale family member had carved their name in this tree for centuries. It had miraculously survived the fire.

Derek took his hand and took out a small needle to take his blood. “This shouldn’t hurt, but tell me if it does anyway.”

“I certainly will,” Stiles assured him. “I really don’t like needles.”

“It was especially created to perform this ritual so it is the cleanest way, but if you prefer to do this another way,” he said hesitantly.

“No, it’s alright, I trust you.”

Derek gave him a fond look. He was probably just trying to calm his nerves, it wasn’t like he was actually fond of Stiles.

“There, all done,” Derek said and he took away the needle.

Stiles had been so distracted that he hadn’t even noticed Derek had done anything. That was odd. “Thank you, I didn’t feel a thing.”

“I’ll just do my own hand and then we can start the sacrifice.”

“No wait, I’ll do yours.” Stiles had no idea why he said that. For some reason, holding hands with Derek felt strangely intimate. “It’s only fair,” he added.

Derek nodded and gave him his huge hand. Seriously werewolves had enormous hands, it made Stiles a bit worried about their wedding night. Although he shouldn’t be, they had already agreed that this would be a sexless marriage.

Stiles wasn’t as careful as Derek, mainly because this situation was getting slightly uncomfortable, but in the end they had two vials of blood.

“Are we supposed to just throw this at the tree?”

“Actually, yes,” Derek said. “But we are supposed to sacrifice each other’s blood, giving blood used to be the ultimate sign of trust between werewolves. Because you let yourself appear vulnerable to your betrothed.”

Stiles nearly giggled. “Betrothed, seriously? You are a bit old-fashioned, do you know that. Something else I was wondering about, are you still going to call me Prince Stiles once we’re married? I think once you’re married you should be on a first-name basis.”

“Alright, Stiles.” Derek slowly pronounced his name. Stiles immediately regretted giving him permission since it seemed to go straight to his dick. Not good.

Derek didn’t appear to notice his discomfort and said, “You can throw your vial now, please aim at the tree itself.”

Stiles threw the vial, he almost expected it to burst into flames but nothing happened. “That wasn’t very spectacular,” he remarked.

“It’s enough for a successful mating ritual,” Derek shrugged. “Shall we go back to the palace?”

“Alright,” Stiles said, distracted. “This isn’t really how I imagined my wedding as a little boy. I just always thought my mom was going to be there. Sorry, it’s just looking at this family tree, I realized I don’t have a lot of family.”

“I understand,” Derek said, “the only real family I have left is Laura.”

“It’s not I like I don’t love my friends,” Stiles continued speaking. He had no idea where this was coming from. “But growing up with my dad, it could be a little lonely and now I’m starting to realize that our kids are going to go through the same damn thing. They won’t have a warm and happy family.”

“We don’t need to bring kids into this. Once we get rid of Peter, we can do what we want.”

“You need an heir,” Stiles argued.

“Not really, I’ve mentioned my cousin, I could let the kingdom pass to his children.”

“But that’s not what you really want, is it? You want to bring your own son or daughter to this tree one day.”

“Stiles, we’re not even married yet, we should discuss this later. But if you move back to Beacon Hills, I don’t think we should be having children, it wouldn’t be right.”

“Maybe we should do it Parent Trap style,” Stiles suggested jokingly. “Keep one twin each.”

Predictably, Derek wasn’t laughing. “We’ll discuss this later once I’m king.”

Their conversation seemed to be finished after that and they both stayed quiet. Stiles really hoped this wasn’t a preview of their married life.


	6. Chapter 6

The thing about unfortunate events was that they seemed to happen much faster than the ones you do look forward to.

So it didn’t come as a surprise to Stiles that the week leading up to his wedding with Derek seemed to fly by. Even if he had still been a little bit in denial, that was truly over once his dad arrived at the palace. And he wasn’t alone, he was joined by Scott’s mom, Danny and surprisingly Allison’s dad. There was no sign of Lydia, but Stiles hadn’t been counting on her presence. She wasn’t one to change her mind once it was made up.

His dad was very happy to see him, there was an embarrassingly emotional reunion. Melissa also gave him a big hug. On the other hand, Chris Argent didn’t seem so happy to find himself in Wolfsbane. His reunion with his daughter was far less emotional, but Stiles knew that the Argents weren’t exactly a fan of public displays of affection, unlike the Stilinski family.

“Prince Stiles, it’s good to see you again,” Chris greeted him, after his dad finally let go of him.

“It is, Mr. Argent. I’m sure Allison is delighted to see you again. Although I have to admit I’m a bit surprised to see you here. I know you’re not exactly a fan of werewolves.”

“Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the people we love.”

There was something about the way he said it, that made it sound very poignant all of the sudden. “How well do you know Peter Hale?” Stiles asked him.

Chris looked pretty grim. “Well enough to know what kind of a man he is, but I will let you draw your own conclusions.”

“No need, I made up my mind about him a long time ago. I have a feeling we need to discuss some other matters, Mr. Argent.”

“Of course, your Highness,” he said. “But I’d like to spend some time with my daughter first.”

Stiles realized it was finally time to sort out this Argent mess. But first he was going to catch up with Danny to make sure he didn’t miss out on some valuable gossip.

*

Stiles wasn’t afraid to admit that it was a bit intimidating to be confronted by Allison and Chris Argent, even in the safety of his own room.

Chris was the one who started the conversation. “You wanted to speak to me.”

“I did,” Stiles confirmed. “I’m sure Allison has already filled you in on all the details surrounding this marriage so you’re aware of the reasons why I’m marrying Derek. I need to know if I have your support, because I know our agreement is officially over once I’m married.”

“I will always have your back,” Allison said fiercely. “No matter what my dad decides.”

“Thank you, Allison, it’s good to know who’s in charge here,” Chris said, however there was a small grin on his face. “But I agree with my daughter, she should stay here as long as she wants. I do hope that she pays attention to her other responsibilities one day.”

Allison rolled her eyes when her dad mentioned ‘her responsibilities’.

“Rest assured, our family will never forget what your mother did for us. And I realize my daughter has grown fond of you, even though that was certainly not my intention. But sometimes feelings get in the way. So it would be in your best interest to not get too attached to that fiancé of yours. I’m not convinced he’s going to make it.”

For some reason, Stiles felt the need to defend Derek. “He isn’t as weak as he appears, he is determined to get rid of his uncle and so am I.”

Chris seemed to reconsider Stiles. “You’ve definitely changed since the last time I saw you. But trust me, I will do anything I can to make sure you and Derek both survive this ordeal.”

He extended his hand to Stiles and they shook on it. It was good to have another ally, but Stiles would only start breathing again once this wedding was over.

But for now, he was going to take comfort in the fact that he wasn’t losing Allison any time soon.

It helped that his own dad was here too, Stiles had the chance to tell him in person about Laura Hale. His dad wanted to do start a little investigation of his own, to find out why Laura chose his country as her hiding place. They both agreed that it wasn’t a random choice, just like Stiles wasn’t a random choice for Derek.

He also got the chance to meet the wedding planner who seemed to have a good handle on things. In the course of thirty minutes, she walked Stiles through the entire wedding so that he knew what to wear and when to show up. Honestly, that was all the involvement he wanted.

But, without doubt the most interesting meeting he had, was with the priest who was going to marry them. His name was Bobby Finstock and he was the rudest priest he ever met. Stiles loved him instantly. He had no idea that a priest could know that many curse words, Stiles was really expanding his vocabulary. It made Stiles and Derek’s conversations with him very entertaining since they were supposed to have some kind of pre-wedding counseling, but really Finstock just yelled a lot at them.

At least he was actually communicating with him. Stiles hadn’t seen Morrell ever since that first dinner which was quite disappointing. He had hoped she could give him a few answers since Derek was keeping his mouth shut for now. Sadly, Ethan informed him that she thought it was wise to keep her distance until the wedding was over.

Peter hadn’t approached him either since that first dinner they had. Of course, Stiles basically lived in his own apartment and didn’t need to spend his evenings in the dining room. He had a feeling Peter wasn’t the one who picked out his room.

All in all, Stiles did everything he could to keep busy so he wouldn’t obsess over the fact that he was getting married tomorrow. Yes, this was in fact his last night as a single man. He was expecting Scott, Allison and Danny to come in at any moment to throw him a very impromptu bachelor party. Although technically, Stiles was still going to live as a bachelor even if he was officially married, this wasn’t a ‘real marriage’ after all.

Yeah, that didn’t make him feel any better but the people coming inside his room did.

“So how would you like to spend your last night of freedom?” Danny asked jovially.

“Really drunk,” Stiles answered truthfully. “I’ve already made sure I have the proper instruments to ensure my drunken state. Being drunk at your own wedding is an important tradition, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think so,” Allison responded. “But in your case it totally should be. Maybe I should have hired a stripper.”

“But we already have Scott and Danny.”

“Very funny,” Scott said sarcastically. “Ok, I hope you don’t mind, I kind of invited Isaac. But if you don’t want him here, I could always call him.”

Stiles waved away his concerns. “It’s fine, the more the merrier. Besides, I seriously need to get to know your boyfriend. Has he even been properly vetted by Allison?”

“He sure has been,” she said menacingly. “To be fair, both Isaac and Erica seem to check out. Although there is something strange about that Boyd guy.”

“Yeah, Lydia already said something like that,” Stiles said, unconcerned. “But I think we should stop wasting our energy on Derek’s friends when he has so many enemies. Especially not tonight, I want to enjoy this night.”

They clinked their glasses and got the party started. Not that the party got very wild, it was mostly Scott and Isaac slow dancing while Allison, Stiles and Danny swapped stories. Allison was notoriously private so it was fun listening to her story of how her dad caught her making out with her first boyfriend. He ran off when he was confronted with the rage of Chris Argent but most people with a working brain probably would.

“I’ve never really had a boyfriend,” Stiles said. It came out a lot more sad than he had intended it to. “So that is something to look forward to in the future,” he added, because he couldn’t stand the pitying looks both Allison and Danny were giving him.

“Anyway, I was serious about that striptease. I think you should start losing clothes, Danny.”

Danny took off his shirt but that was all he was willing to take off, Stiles had the feeling that his new boyfriend had something to do with that. Not that he wasn’t happy for him, he was happy when his friends were happy. Case in point: Scott and Isaac who looked embarrassingly happy together.

Hopefully, someday he would find someone who cared about him.

*

It was his wedding day, also known as the worst day of his life. Time to get up, he was going to be quite busy. Unfortunately, the day got off to a horrible start since his first visitor was Peter Hale and Scott was still asleep.

“Prince Stiles, it’s been too long,” he said, he even managed to make a greeting sound menacing.

“Good morning, Regent, I apologize but I don’t really have time to chat at the moment.”

“Of course not, you have to prepare yourself for the wedding, although I’m sure you will look flawless. I hope I will see you more often, once you’re officially married to my nephew, it’s important to be close to your family.”

Stiles really wanted to throw Laura in his face but resisted. He really had matured. “I really have to go now, I will see you at the wedding.”

A barely awake Scott walked into the room, right after Stiles closed the door in his face. “Was that Peter?” he asked.

“It sure was, stalking me on the morning of my wedding, I’m so glad I’m marrying into this family.”

“Well we don’t have time to debate Peter’s creepiness right now, the dresser should be here in ten minutes. Maybe you’d better eat something first.”

“I’m really not hungry,” Stiles said, he was starting to get really nervous.

Scott seemed to pick up his mood change and said encouragingly, “Don’t be nervous, you just need to put on your fancy clothes, say some words and then you can get drunk with the rest of us. Alright?”

“I’m fine,” Stiles answered, although he really wasn’t. This day just needed to be over.

So he got dressed in his fancy suit, received an encouraging hug from his dad and then the carriage took him to the church where he was marrying Derek. The only thing he hadn’t taken into account were the hordes of people who were trying to catch a glimpse of Wolfsbane’s new consort. There were so many cameras, Stiles thought he knew how to deal with attention but this was something else. The press back home had kind of given up on him once they realized he wasn’t going to give them any real scandals. It felt like the entire world was watching him.

Even his dad, who was sitting next to him in the carriage, was impressed. “Wow, I had no idea there would be this many people, King Robert’s wedding was nothing compared to this.”

“Poor Robert,” Stiles murmured. “I’m totally stealing his thunder, I’m starting to wonder what Derek looks like. Do you think he’ll keep it natural and marry me as a wolf?”

His dad shook his head in disbelief, he was clearly not in a joking mood. But Stiles had used humor as a defense mechanism his entire life so he kept making jokes until his dad finally cracked a smile.

The church reminded him of the palace, it was majestic and actually quite beautiful. People were cheering loudly and shouting things, some of them were even holding signs. It was all a bit over the top for him. He almost felt better once he entered the church, where Derek was dutifully waiting for him at the altar. He looked as bored as ever, it nearly made Stiles smile.

While he was walking to the altar with his dad, he decided to check out the guests, it was quite a long walk. He spotted some friends: Scott, Allison, Danny and Isaac, some reluctant allies: Morrell, Ethan and some enemies: Jackson. He studiously ignored Peter’s glances.

And then there he was, right in front of Derek. He looked truly amazing in his suit, not that he needed any help in the looks department.

Derek addressed him first. “Prince Stiles, I would like to show the people of Wolfsbane and beyond, that we are true mates. This is why I am rewarding you now with the mark of the true alpha.”

They had rehearsed this with Finstock but Stiles thought Derek sounded a lot more threatening during the actual ceremony. It was very weird that werewolves considered this romantic. Stiles bared his neck so Derek could give him the bite he so politely had offered him. Derek wasn’t lying earlier, he really was gentle about it and it only hurt a little bit to have his giant teeth bite his skin. Actually it was a bit of turn-on, Stiles quickly pushed that idea away, he couldn’t have a boner here.

Derek pulled back from him and used his very human hands to feel the bite. “Does it hurt?” he whispered.

Stiles quickly said no and then they both turned around together to face the priest. Apparently Finstock had no problem dealing with the attention since the church was filled with cameras. Stiles’ face while he was being bitten had been plastered on a giant screen outside the church and on televisions all around the world. What were the French going to think about this (not to mention Lydia).

Stiles had always considered weddings to be very boring, especially royal ones with all that protocol, clearly he should have attended more of Finstock’s weddings.

The man put on a good show, Stiles was amused even if he didn’t want to be. After Finstock finished his rant on how Stiles and Derek were idiots for contributing to the moronic institute that was marriage, it was time for the ‘I do’s.’

It was Derek’s turn first. Finstock asked the same question everyone had to answer at the altar. “Do you, Prince Derek Hale, take Prince Stiles Stilinski as your lawful husband?”

That was the only thing Stiles had demanded, that they would not say his full name in front of the entire world. Stiles hated his given name which was why his mom started calling him Stiles when he was little. Luckily, Finstock didn’t seem to have any issues with his request, in fact he barely remembered Stiles’ name.

Derek finally answered, “I do.”

Stiles tried to focus on the priest when he reluctantly gave the same answer. And then Finstock declared them legally married, this was it.

Stiles and Derek turned to each other again when Finstock said it was time for a kiss. They really should have rehearsed this part as well, had Derek even kissed anyone?

Stiles quickly came to the conclusion he definitely had, since he was a much better kisser than Stiles would have presumed. It wasn’t like it was quick one either, Derek was definitely putting some effort in this. Maybe to put on a claim on him in front of Peter, Stiles didn’t particularly care at the moment, he just enjoyed their one and only kiss.

Then it was time to party.

*

Prince Jackson wasn’t disappointed, the party was in fact huge. Stiles despised Peter, but the man knew how to throw a party. Initially he was a bit sheltered since he sat next to Derek at the head of the giant table, it didn’t take long before he found himself at the dance floor with Allison.

Of course good things couldn’t last forever which was proven once again when Peter asked him to dance with him.

Stiles was still busy finding an excuse when Derek interrupted them. “I think I should be the one to dance with my husband, especially since we skipped the first dance.”

“I can’t believe we forgot that,” Peter said cheerfully. “You are right, Derek, we need to fix that. But afterwards, I will have a dance with you.” He winked at Stiles and fortunately went away.

“Want to make it a short night?” Derek asked, while he carefully put his hand on Stiles’ waist, it was a slow song.

“Are you that excited for the wedding night?” he teased.

“My uncle isn’t a very nice drunk, believe me,” Derek said. “And he seems pretty determined about that dance.”

“Maybe you’ve got a point,” Stiles admitted. “By the way, you are a horrible dancer, has anyone ever told you that?”

“Considering I never dance, not really.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Stiles suggested.

“But don’t you want to enjoy the party a bit longer, I can stick by you so that my uncle doesn’t bother you.”

“Honestly, I’m pretty tired, I just want to go back to your room. I’m sure you have an extra bedroom in there.”

Derek nodded as confirmation. “You are welcome to spend the night there, it’s probably best to keep up the pretence. The wedding night is pretty important to werewolves.”

Stiles smiled and they left the giant party behind them.

*

Derek’s room was surprisingly awesome, Stiles had secretly expected him to live as a monk but that didn’t seem to be the case at all. Either he had top secret designing skills or he was not the one who decorated this room.

While Stiles was busy admiring the room, Derek was giving him directions. “Behind that door, you can find the second bedroom. I made sure you had two bedrooms as well, I assumed Scott wanted to stay with you at first. I guess there is nothing else to say but good night, Stiles.”

“Did you just call me Stiles?”

“Well that is your name,” Derek said nonchalantly.

“Yes, it’s just nice to hear you use it, without my prompting.”

“I would really like it if we were friends, Stiles, I really do care about you.”

“Me too, Derek,” Stiles said. “By the way, you’re a pretty good kisser.”

Derek looked embarrassed and said, “I haven’t had much practice, there was this one girl.”

“Tell me about her,” Stiles said impulsively. He didn’t mean to sound demanding but it worked since Derek sat down and started talking again. Maybe he just needed to tell someone his story.

“Her name was Paige, I met her when I was fifteen. She was actually a daughter of one of the servants. That is how I met her since I wasn’t really allowed to leave the palace as a kid. Laura was encouraged to leave as much as possible, she didn’t really mind, it was a good way to escape my uncle’s cruelty. I don’t think he ever forgave her for not dying in that fire.”

Stiles couldn’t believe anyone could be that cruel, but then again he had met Peter.

“Anyway, Paige became my first friend in a long time and eventually my first girlfriend,” Derek explained, he sounded distant, like he was telling someone else’s story. “I tried to keep her a secret for as long as I could but then her dad found out and he was stupid enough to inform my uncle. He probably thought he was doing me a favor. She died three days after he found out.”

“Peter killed her.”

“He probably did, not that there was ever any proof. The only person who started asking questions was her father, who died in a car crash a week later. That is why I decided never to get involved with anyone ever again.”

Stiles stood up out of his own chair and carefully stepped closer to him. “It wasn’t your fault, you can’t blame for yourself for this. The man is clearly a psychopath.”

“I should have killed him,” Derek sneered.

“Who knows what would have happened to you if you tried, and to your country.”

“But if I had, Paige would still be alive, my sister wouldn’t be on the run and you wouldn’t be married to someone you don’t care for.”

“Don’t you dare put me in the list of victims of Peter,” Stiles protested vehemently. “Marrying you might not have my been my dream, but it’s nothing compared to the way he treated Paige and Laura. And you will avenge them with my help. Because I do care about you and Laura. Honestly, I think you’re the true victim in this arranged marriage. You deserve a second shot at love.”

Derek smiled. “Thanks, I’m sure we will both eventually find what we’re looking for.”

An idea popped into his head. “Maybe we should get a head start. Has Peter ever loved anyone? There could be an explanation as to why he became such a dickhead.”

“I don’t really know, I’ve seen him with a lot of people over the years, he didn’t seem particularly attached to any of them.”

“Then we must investigate, let’s go,” Stiles said gleefully.

Derek frowned. “Go where?”

“To Peter’s room, he’ll be at the party all night, this is the perfect opportunity to do some snooping.”

“Do you really consider Peter the type to just leave his secrets out in the open?”

“You never know what we could find, at least this way we have a productive wedding night. Come on, aren’t you the least bit curious?”

“Maybe you’ve got a point,” Derek said, “this is probably the only night of the year that there won’t be guard in front of the room. I think I’ve only been there twice since we moved into the new palace.”

“Excellent, I’ve got a lot of brilliant ideas so it would be wise to listen to me in the future,” Stiles grinned.

It took them fifteen minutes to reach Peter’s wing, apparently he had chosen the most isolated spot in the palace as his own sanctuary.

“Derek, your family is seriously weird,” Stiles said, while he observed the room which was covered in gold. “Oh my God, now this is disgusting, I just found three boxes of condoms.”

“Please put that down, I don’t even want to think about it. Honestly, I don’t even know where to start, we have no clue what we’re looking for.”

“Alright, if I were an evil mastermind with my own lair and everything, I think I would like to keep a reminder of my evildoing. I watched a lot of movies as a kid since I had no friends to keep me occupied. And this may sound a bit cliché, but is Peter an art fan?”

“I don’t think so,” Derek said.

“Hmm, so maybe there is another reason for the massive painting hanging in his bedroom. The incredibly ugly painting which could conveniently hide a safe. Let’s find out if my detective skills are worth anything,” Stiles said. He tried to remove the painting but it wasn’t moving at all.

“I think it’s time to use your freaky werewolf powers,” he said eventually, “because this thing is much heavier than it looks.”

“Back away a little,” Derek said in warning. “I think I know exactly what this is.” Unlike Stiles, he was able to lift all the painting without too much trouble, however there was nothing hidden behind it.

“My dad had something similar, there is something hidden in this painting.”

“In the painting,” Stiles said, surprised, “well that’s new.”

“I will have to use my claws to open this thing, don’t be alarmed,” Derek smiled. Even using his claws, it took Derek about five minutes before he finally managed to open the painting since he had to make sure that they would be able to put it back without Peter noticing.

“This is a bit of an anticlimax,” Stiles commented. “The only thing in here is a book, does this ring any bells?”

“Don’t give that book to me,” Derek hurried to say, “it’s covered in mistletoe.”

Stiles was really not following him. “Mistletoe? Everyone knows that is poisonous to werewolves, but it hasn’t been around for centuries. Why on earth would Peter keep a stash around from something that could kill him?”

“Because he used it to kill my family, that is why they weren’t able to escape that fire,” Derek said gravely. “It’s alright,” he added, “I have known for a long time he killed my family, I just never understood how he did it.”

“Oh God, I’m so sorry, Derek,” Stiles said, horrified by this revelation. “And he probably was planning on using the last of his stash on Laura, good thing she bailed. We can’t put this back.”

“We have to, he’ll be suspicious if it’s suddenly gone.”

“You’re right, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Derek sighed heavily. “I should never have married you. I’ve brought you in so much danger. You and the rest of your country… You were right before, I should have fought harder.”

“There was nothing you could have done,” Stiles tried to reason with him. “For some reason, Peter was very determined that you would marry the prince of Beacon Hills. Do you think he knows about Laura?” Stiles asked him, alarmed.

“No,” Derek answered resolutely. “If he did, he would have used this poison on her a long time ago, he doesn’t let his enemies live.”

“I think if we find out why he was so determined to negotiate our marriage, we might find out what he’s up to.”

“It can’t be the country, no offense, but Beacon Hills isn’t worth all this trouble.”

“No offense taken,” Stiles said generously. “That’s what I kept telling you, there is nothing valuable in Beacon Hills. And however interested Peter might be in me, I don’t think this is about me either. Actually now that I think about it, he was always a bit over the top when he was hitting on me. He might have used his interest in me as a cover.”

Out of the blue, Derek started laughed really hard. It wasn’t a pleasant laugh, Stiles thought it was rather creepy. “But of course, we were both wrong, there is something powerful in Beacon Hills, that’s where he found the mistletoe.”

Stiles’ eyes widened in shock. “Shit, that’s the real reason he wanted to control Beacon Hills. He just got his hands on a lifetime supply of something that could kill off all his enemies.”

“We are so screwed,” Derek concluded.

“Not necessarily, we will have to put this back but I’ll text Lydia and tell her what we just discovered. She’ll get rid of all the mistletoe in Beacon Hills even if she has to burn it down herself. My father can finally make use of that army, if we cover enough ground, we could get rid of everything in a week at the most.”

Derek didn’t say anything but he was giving him that stupidly fond look again. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Said what?”

“That it was wrong to marry you, I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. You would have been a great king, Stiles.”

“No doubt about that, but I’ll make a kick ass consort as well,” Stiles grinned. “Now we should really get out of here, it would be a shame if we got caught now after we made all this progress.”

*

Stiles found it impossible to sleep after all that excitement so he texted Lydia in the middle of the night with all the details. She sent him back a couple of pretty creative expletives about Peter, before she assured him she would set things in motion. Stiles had no doubt that all the mistletoe growing in Beacon Hills would be destroyed very soon.

It was a bit ridiculous that Peter had gone to all this trouble to get his hands on _a plant_. Alright, a plant that could kill the entire population of this country without leaving a trace, but still it looked pretty harmless to Stiles.

And Stiles had no illusions about the fact that Peter considered him a nice bonus. Not everything had been an act, he was far too creepy for that be the case.

He decided to go back to the living room where he found his husband who was just as restless as him. His _husband_ , it would take some time to get used to that.

“I just spoke to Laura,” Derek informed him. “She was very relieved to finally have an explanation for all of Peter’s latest schemes. And she’s very excited about the fact that we can stop his plans.“

Maybe this was an opportunity for Stiles to finally get an answer to another question he had. “Hmm, since your sister had no idea why your uncle was so interested in Beacon Hills, why did she choose it as her hiding place?”

“We have an old family friend who lives there, Deaton,” he said, “he was one of the few people we could trust completely.”

“Deaton as in my Prime Minister Deaton. That’s convenient. Ah, so he is the one who helps _gifted_ people like Erica and Isaac.”

“Like you know, there aren’t a lot of werewolves in Beacon Hills so Deaton tries to help the ones who are turned unexpectedly. He trains them in his beach resort, where Laura is staying at the moment. Although now that he’s Prime Minister, he mostly relies on his network to do the training.”

“And I always considered him so boring,” Stiles said, genuinely shocked by all of these revelations. “I slept through most of the speeches he gave at our government meetings.”

Derek chuckled, it was a much nicer laugh this time. “He’s good at hiding who he truly is, just like his sister who is _conveniently_ Wolfsbane’s Prime Minister.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Morrell is his sister! They do have the same air of secrecy hanging around them. Seriously Derek, we are going to need some normal friends. We can’t go on double dates with Scott and Isaac all the time.”

Now Derek was the one who had surprise written all over his face. “Isaac is dating Scott? That is news to me, it might even be the most shocking thing I’ve heard all night since I was convinced Isaac was crushing on you.”

“Why would you think that? Was it the constant bowing or the blushing, I seriously think he blushes like that in front of everyone.”

“No, I think you’re a special case, you make him nervous.”

“I tend to make people nervous, it’s a very unwelcome gift of mine.”

“Well at least you leave an impression on people, that’s more than I can say.”

“You’ve got a personality,” Stiles said reassuringly, “and once we get rid of Peter, you can finally afford to show it, won’t that be a glorious day. And maybe this could help us.”

Derek looked quite impressed when Stiles took his hand out of his pocket and showed him a little bit of mistletoe.

*


	7. Chapter 7

It had been a week since the wedding and Stiles and Derek didn’t really have much opportunity to plan a murder, unfortunately.

They had to make several official visits, talk to the press and have dinner with several government members. The good news was that all the visiting royals had left already, including Jackson.

Stiles’ dad also went home once Stiles informed him about Peter’s plans for Beacon Hills. Combined with Lydia, Stiles knew that his country was a lost cause for Peter. Now he just had to make sure that Peter wasn’t aware of that. At the moment, he was still distracted by the impact of the wedding, but sooner or later he was going to start focusing again on his precious weapon.

Derek was not pleased when Laura decided that she was the perfect distraction. He nearly threw the phone on the floor, Stiles took it out of his hand before he got the chance.

“Laura, this is your favorite brother-in-law speaking,” he said quickly.

“Stiles,” she said, sounding relieved to hear his voice. “I’m glad it’s you since it’s impossible to reason with your husband. Do you understand how flawless my plan is?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it flawless,” Stiles argued. “Since it could lead to your death and all, but you are right about the fact that if Peter knows that you’re still alive, he will be a lot more interested in killing you than in Beacon Hills.”

“Exactly,” she said. “Frankly, I’m insulted in how little faith my brother has in me. I may no longer be an alpha, but I’m still a princess, you can’t get rid of me that easily. And this way, we can make it look like an accident, if Peter dies in all the chaos of my return.”

“If we can prove that he’s been trying to kill you, we could also make it look like self-defense.”

“Not good enough,” she said, unconvinced. “We need to make sure Peter’s many allies don’t turn on us. It has to be an accident, it can’t look like murder in any way. Even if we are royals, we can’t get away with that, I’m sure Peter had the same realization years ago.”

She had a point. “Alright, but if we can’t poison him, then what other way is there to kill a werewolf?”

“Fire, since chopping his head off might not look like an accident.”

“Are you sure about this? I mean fire is what he used to kill your family.”

“Exactly, payback is a bitch and I want him to burn. Can I count on you, Stiles?”

“Of course you can, I’m your favorite brother-in-law after all,” he smirked.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else,” she said, “I’ll see you in two days. In the meantime, you can brainstorm with Scott and Allison on how to start this particular fire.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Me neither. Oh, and Stiles, could you look after my brother? He’s really going to need you now.”

“Not a problem, that’s what marriage is for,” he answered and hung up. When he turned around, he saw Derek quietly sitting on his chair.

“Are you alright?” Stiles asked, suddenly very concerned about him. He had figured out a while ago that things were really bad when Derek was this quiet.

“I don’t want her to come back here,” Derek finally said. “It’s not worth killing herself for this.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Stiles said convincingly. “Your sister is going to make it through this just fine. Listen, she knows what she’s doing, we all do. If she turns up unexpectedly, Peter is going to be so focused on her, he won’t even notice it when we set him on fire.”

“Fire,” Derek repeated. “That’s Laura’s brilliant plan, she wants him to burn just like the rest of our entire family. Has she lost her fucking mind! Call her back and tell her she doesn’t need to come here, I’m going to Peter’s room and finish this myself.”

Stiles basically ran to the door to stop him. Although he couldn’t really stop a werewolf from going anywhere, he at least had to try. “Listen, you don’t need to sacrifice yourself to stop him. This country needs you, you are going to be the next King. If you get yourself killed now then Wolfsbane is doomed. Is that what you want?”

“I am so tired of devoting my entire life to this country, you have no idea.”

Stiles was starting to feel really pissed off. “You think I have no idea, I am a crown prince too, Derek! I know exactly how it feels being treated like it doesn’t matter how you feel or what you want. But we can’t abandon our people now.”

“ _Our people_ , this is not your country, Stiles, you don’t belong here.”

“It is my country now, I am your consort so you could at least pretend to care about my opinion!”

Stiles could have continued to rant for a few hours since he had a lot of opinions, but he was a bit too busy responding to Derek’s violent kiss. It was like he decided to put all his anger and frustration in kissing Stiles. Not that Stiles minded, since he had a lot of anger and frustration himself. Derek basically shoved him in his bed and easily climbed on top of him. Stiles knew that sex couldn’t solve your problems, but old habits die hard.

When Derek was completely naked, Stiles thought this was a habit he could get used to. Derek clearly wasn’t interested in thinking about anything at the moment and focused on Stiles’ nipples, oddly his weak point.

Stiles was just about to congratulate him on his skills when his phone suddenly went off.

“Don’t pick up,” Derek growled, but he had stopped attacking Stiles’ nipples which completely sucked.

He really didn’t want to either but he had no choice, it could literally be a life-or-death situation. “I have to,” he grunted, and glanced at his screen. “It’s my dad.”

Now that was a mood killer. Derek climbed off him and Stiles hurriedly picked up.

“Stiles, this is urgent,” his dad said. “We just finished destroying the last of the mistletoe we could find. Everything we could find was on the property of Deucalion.” Stiles remembered him, he used to work at the palace. “But before we had the chance to arrest him for treason, he managed to warn Peter. He knows, Stiles. You are in danger, you have to get out of there before he goes after Derek.”

“Alright,” Stiles replied, he felt strangely calm. “I’ll tell him, I’ll contact you as soon as possible.”

He quickly recapped the situation to Derek, who was already putting on his pants. “Your uncle knows that we have been destroying the mistletoe. And his minion, Deucalion, managed to warn him that you’re behind it. He might even know about Laura already.”

Stiles had expected Derek to stay his usual calm self but instead he looked more furious than he had ever seen him.

“Derek, we need to get out of here,” Stiles instructed. “This palace is not safe, I’ll call Scott and Allison, they’re probably waiting for me in my room.”

“You’re not doing anything and you’re staying here,” Derek ordered him harshly. “I’m going after my uncle, this is my responsibility. It’s me he wants to destroy.”

“You can’t do this by yourself,” Stiles cried out. “I’m not going to let yourself get killed!”

“Honestly, Stiles, you can’t stop me. Call Scott and Allison, you’re going to need them.”

And then he left Stiles behind to find Peter. Fuck.

*

Scott and Allison got to Derek’s room in record time. A clearly panicked Scott immediately asked him what happened.

“Derek is off to kill the Regent, that’s what is happening.”

“We can’t stop him,” Allison said. “He’s an alpha, he’s much too powerful.”

“We need to find Peter first,” Stiles said. “He’s plotting his revenge somewhere. Let’s just hope that he didn’t take his mistletoe with him. “Scott, call Erica and warn her about what’s going to happen. Morrell is in Beacon Hills with Laura so we can’t count on her. Now search the palace for Peter,” he ordered them both.

“We can’t leave you here alone, we need to protect you,” Allison protested. “That’s why we’re here.”

“I’m still your prince and this is an order, I don’t have time for arguments, go!”

Scott and Allison clearly didn’t agree him but Stiles knew they would never ignore a direct order so they reluctantly left him alone in Derek’s room.

Stiles only had to wait five minutes for the expected knock on the door. “Took you long enough,” he said to Peter.

“I would have come sooner if I’d known how eager you were to see me.”

“Derek is very eager to see you too, you won’t find him here since he’s searching the palace for you at the moment.”

“I’m not interested in Derek, I’m interested in you,” Peter scoffed. “I severely underestimated you, Stiles, you’re a clever little thing. Maybe I shouldn’t have given to you to Derek, my idiot nephew doesn’t deserve such a precious gift.”

“If only you’d been the alpha, you might have been a bit better at reading people. You have no idea how many people have been fighting you.”

Peter looked as smug as ever. “Oh, I have a pretty good idea. Derek might have been a bit of a surprise, but I knew that Morrell was up to something. But I really should have known that little bitch was still alive.”

“Are you referring to your lovely niece? I quite like her.”

“Yes, I imagine you would,” Peter said. “She’s nothing like Derek, he’s so very boring.”

“Seriously, why do you hate your family so much that you feel the need to try to kill all of them.”

“It’s nothing personal, I just really like power and isn’t a bit ridiculous that people like you and Derek sit on the throne just because you were born in the right family. I worked hard to achieve my power.”

“Then you must have been overjoyed when your sister married the crown prince of Wolfsbane.”

“I really was,” he smirked. “Derek’s father was such a bore, perfect for my sister really. Unfortunately, Laura is a lot like her. That was why I knew I had to spring into action when the King wanted to change the law to make Laura his heir, I needed Derek.”

Stiles glared at him. “You really are a monster.”

“Aww, but I really like you, Stiles. You wouldn’t believe my joy when I found out that you were the one who I needed to marry my nephew. I guess I’m just lucky.”

“So now that your master plan has officially failed, what’s your next move? If you kill Derek, you will never get that throne,” he pointed out.

“That throne has been mine for a long time and I’m not planning on killing my nephew. You see, I’m a lot better at reading people than you give me credit for, that’s how I know that Derek has become quite attached to you. And I know for certain that he will do a lot of things to make sure you don’t get hurt.”

“He is never going to be your puppet,” Stiles said.

“Maybe not, but perhaps once he’s King, I can persuade him to change the law so that I’m his heir. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

Stiles laughed at him. “Now you’re just being ridiculous, I mean I know you’re crazy but no one is going to buy that. I think it’s time for you to give up your childhood dreams of being a King, because no matter what you do, you’re never going to be royalty.”

“You should be grateful,” Peter replied viciously. “A couple of months ago you were a useless prince from a particularly useless country and now you’re the consort of one of the most powerful countries in the world.”

Stiles ignored him and said, “I never liked you. Besides, weren’t you planning on killing me?”

“You weren’t listening properly, I’m planning on taking on you far away from here. Since your death would result in my nephew’s death as well and I’m going to need him in the future. Please don’t struggle, it would be quite ridiculous when you’re faced with a werewolf.”

“Like there was ever a chance that Stiles Stilinski wouldn’t put up a fight,” he smirked.

“Look around you, Stiles, your precious bodyguards aren’t here at the moment.” He stared at Stiles and asked, sounding suspicious, “Why aren’t they here?”

“I didn’t want them to be a part of this, confronting you is something I needed to do by myself.” Stiles started walking towards Peter until he got freakishly close. “Aren’t you curious to know why?”

“I’m not really interested in your motives,” Peter said smugly but he did made an effort to step back from Stiles.

“What’s wrong, Regent? I thought you wanted to get close to me.”

“Is this some sort of seduction attempt because I don’t have all the time in the world.”

“Ah, I imagine explaining all your evil plans did cost you some precious time, but don’t worry, I’m worth it,” Stiles said and then he kissed him. It only lasted a couple of seconds before Peter pushed him away.

“What are you trying to achieve here!” he yelled.

“I’m not trying to achieve anything, I’ve already succeeded,” Stiles said. “So tell me how would you rate the taste of mistletoe, I didn’t think much of it but I think its effect on you might be slightly more impressive.”

Peter looked completely astonished. “You little asshole, you poisoned me!” Then he recovered and added, “Do you really think that tiny amount is going to kill me?”

“Oh, I wasn’t planning on killing you, I just wanted you to be unconscious for a while. If you’ll excuse me, I have to call my husband, I have some important news for him.”

Peter was starting to lose some color in his face, but he was still fighting to stand up straight.

“It’s no use fighting the poison,” Stiles informed him joyfully, “even the tiniest amount of mistletoe can knock out a werewolf for a few hours. Aren’t you supposed to be an expert on this stuff? Luckily, I did my own research, the power of the internet.”

Peter was trying to shout something at him but lost his fight before he could, and dropped on the floor. Stiles calmly picked up his phone and called Derek.

Not much later, Derek stormed into the room. “Are you alright?” he asked Stiles urgently, carefully checking him for any visible wounds.

“I’m fine,” Stiles said, trying to calm him down. “Your uncle is the one who just got poisoned with mistletoe, now we just have to decide what to do with him.”

Derek finally paid attention to the fact that an unconscious Peter was sprawled all over his floor. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“I just wanted to make sure you got to decide what to do with him, I didn’t know if you wanted to follow Laura’s plan after all.”

“I’m not going to kill him,” Derek said decisively.

“What! But he wouldn’t hesitate to kill you.”

“Exactly, I’m a much better person than he is and so are you. We should not stoop to his level. Besides, the best revenge for someone like Peter is to take away all his power and lock him up for the rest of his life, make him completely irrelevant. I’ll build a special dungeon for him, feed him carrots.”

Stiles wasn’t convinced yet. “If that’s what you want… But he doesn’t deserve your mercy. You’re too kind, Derek, I will need to sort that out in the future.”

“I would never have been this ‘kind’ if it wasn’t for you,” Derek said softly. “I’ll alert Erica that I’ve found proof that my uncle committed treason. I think my uncle’s staff will lose their loyalty very quickly when they hear that news. With the help of your father, we can link him to Deucalion.”

Stiles caved in. “You will have to convince all the countries Peter has in his pocket that you’re in control now.”

“I know, that’s why I’m moving up the coronation to next week, Finstock won’t be pleased with me that I’m burdening him with another ceremony in the same month.”

“Well at least you’ll have me by your side when he’s shouting every known swear word at you.”

Honestly, Stiles couldn’t wait.

*


	8. Epilogue

It turned out that coronation ceremonies were even more boring than weddings. Stiles had no idea how that was even possible.

Meeting Laura in the flesh, on the other hand, that was quite entertaining. After she got over her initial disappointment that she wasn’t allowed to chop up Peter in tiny pieces. But Derek was insistent that they weren’t killing him, he was locked up in the royal dungeon for now. His cell was covered in mistletoe, his dad’s idea.

Derek only went down there once to confront his uncle, hoping to get some sort of explanation for all the suffering Peter put them through. He only spouted the exact same nonsense Stiles had to listen to. Derek had been incredibly grumpy after his visit. Stiles figured it was normal to want some sort of reason for losing as much as he had but he didn’t believe Peter could ever provide him with a decent one.

It did mean that Stiles had found himself a new mission: to put on a smile on Derek’s face. It was the hardest mission of his life but the success rate kept rising. Until Stiles could be rest assured that Derek wasn’t completely miserable anymore. They never even discussed the fact that Stiles was free to go back to Beacon Hills now, actually they both avoided that topic.

Of course Stiles missed his home, but Beacon Hills had never needed him as much as Derek and Wolfsbane did. He was starting to wonder if that was what he had missed all those years: responsibility. His dad was such a good King that he didn’t need to rely on Stiles for anything while Derek constantly relied on him during some very hard negotiations with their neighboring countries. As predicted, not everyone was very excited about Derek’s coronation, they were all used to dealing with the Regent and a lot of royals found it hard to believe he was a traitor.

It would take years for Derek to gain their respect but he was unexpectedly helped by Peter who took his own life one month after Derek was crowned as the new King, using his own poison.

Everyone was relieved when they heard the news but it had a particularly freeing effect on Derek. It would have been very improper to have a party celebrating his death so Stiles and Derek had their own private celebration. Stiles was finally able to congratulate Derek on his skills.

“Seriously Derek, we’re going to have to leave this bed at some point,” Stiles moaned. He was pinned on their bed yet again by Derek. Seriously, werewolves had a lot of energy, even Stiles was having trouble keeping up.

“I don’t see why,” Derek said cheekily.

Stiles was trying to give him a convincing argument but he didn’t get the chance since Laura started pounding on the door.

“Are you two seriously going to miss my engagement party because you’re too busy screwing each other!”

Derek rolled his eyes and conceded, “Alright, we should get up.”

They quickly put on some clothes and were greeted by a very unsympathetic Laura. “Boyd and I had to wait for years for this, years of sneaking around and now that we can finally tie the knot, my family can’t even be bothered to show up.”

“I can’t help it if your brother is a horny bastard,” Stiles apologized.

She had a horrified look on her face. “Eww, please spare me the details.”

*

“Frankly, Lydia, I’m insulted that you showed up for Laura’s wedding but not mine.”

“This is an engagement party, not a wedding,” she replied impatiently. “Besides, you can’t expect me to show up to every wedding. Especially now that I’ll probably have to attend Scott’s wedding too.”

“Yes, Scott and Isaac do seem very happy. I’m just glad they’re staying here, especially now that Allison is leaving,” he sulked.

“You can’t expect Allison to stay with you forever, you’re all grown up now.”

Stiles did realize that, but that didn’t mean he had to like losing one of his best friends. He would forever be grateful to his mother that she saved Chris Argent’s life, otherwise he probably would never even have been friends with Allison in the first place.

“By the way, there is something I need to tell you,” Lydia said, interrupting his thoughts.

“You’ve already mentioned your promotion like five times,” Stiles reminded her.

“I’m the freaking Vice Prime Minister, I should have mentioned it ten times already.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, it’s not that, I just wanted to congratulate you on your wedding."

Stiles turned around to face her and asked, “Do you mean that?”

“Of course I mean it. You and Derek look deliriously happy together, it’s all a bit too sappy for my tastes. I think I’m even going to miss hearing some of your sordid stories.”

“No need,” Stiles said enthusiastically. “Derek and I went to the wine cellar last night where we found out that…”

She cut him off quickly. “Oh for God’s sake, I take it all back, don’t tell me anything.”

“But who else am I going tell my sordid stories?”

“Here’s an idea, why don’t you go talk to your husband,” she said.

Stiles was impressed. “You always have the best ideas, Lydia, that’s why I love you so much.”

She couldn’t completely cover up that she was quite flattered. Stiles noticed that Prince Jackson was approaching them and quickly got out of the way so he could locate his husband. He hadn’t changed that much since he was standing alone in a corner, sipping some wine.

“Derek, did you realize we haven’t checked out the stables yet?”

Derek responded with a huge grin on his face.

Stiles was really starting to appreciate royal weddings.

 

THE END


End file.
